World Smile Day is observed on the first Friday in October, which was last week. While I missed it in the chaos that I was clearing at home and in the getting things back to normal, I did not forget it completely How could I anyway, with Lia’s sweet smile reminding me of it from my blogger friend Martha’s blog here? But as far as I am concerned it is everyday! So smile out loud and wide, today and everyday…
Are you wondering how you can smile out loud? I think you can! When your smile is so big that you can’t contain it within the width of it, and it bubbles out some more in not quite a laugh and yet still a smile! And I noticed that the UrbanDictionary has a definition for the term!
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These Books Will Make You Smile Out Loud
Smile Out Loud
Title: Smile Out Loud: 25 Happy Poems
Author: Joseph Coelho
Illustrator: Daniel Gray-Barnett
Genre: Children’s Humorous Poetry/Self-Esteem Books (5 –10 years, and up)
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions (May 10, 2022)
Twenty five original poems from award winning poet Joseph Coelho designed to be read aloud to project confidence, conjure happiness, make you laugh or cheer others up. Some are odes, some can be said as personal mantras or just poems full of words that you can’t help but smile when you hear them.
My Quick Thoughts
Delightful! While some poems appealed to me way more than others, this book is sure to delight everyone. I especially enjoyed A Tip of the Slongue, a poem using spoonerisms!! And yes, many others too. I loved how smoothly different poetic forms as well as literary devices are integrated into the poems themselves with a short introduction before the poems themselves, making this book both entertaining and educational.
And I adored the cute and colorful artwork accompanying the poems – like cookie-cutter perfect for the words!
Check it out for yourself, or gift it to a loved one, and smile out loud together!
Get it here: Amazon
Thanks to Edelweiss Above the Treeline for a digital review copy of this book.
Miles of Smiles
Title: Miles of Smiles: A Collection of Laugh-Out-Loud Poems
Author/Compiler: Bruce Lansky
Illustrator: Steven Carpenter
Genre: Children’s Humorous Poetry (6 –12 years, and up)
Publisher: Running Press Adult (July 1, 2013)
Thousands of elementary-school students helped Bruce Lansky, “The King of Giggle Poetry,” pick the poems by Kenn Nesbitt, Joyce Armor, Joan Horton, Eric Ode, Dave Crawley, Ted Scheu, and other poets included in this book. If these poems don’t put a smile on your face, Stephen Carpenter’s hilarious illustrations surely will!
My Quick Thoughts
This is a giggle-inducer, a smile-producer and a LOL-maker! Plus, the poems are relatable to the target audience – of course, since they were selected by them! And this combination makes it the perfect book for poems for beginners.
I am familiar with Lansky and his collections never fail to delight. This one is no different, and the illustrations are a perfect companion to the totally fun selection of poems.
A Couple More Reads That’ll Have You Smiling
- Both The Smile that went a Mile (by Amanda Prowse and illustrated by Paul Ward Smith) and Miles of Smiles (by Karen Orloff and illustrated by Luciano Lozano) are so very cute. They both work off the same premise; that a smile is contagious. So a smile that you pass on to someone in the morning might just reach someone else (a stranger or someone you know) miles away by later in the day (or even much sooner)!
- Smile! by Bil Keane. Those Family Circus comics you most surely have read in the newspaper are bound to have your exercising your facial muscles as you smile, grin, giggle, and laugh out loud!
Smile Out Loud: And the Rest
On the other hand, you must have heard the smile in people’s voices when you talk to them over the phone. Haven’t you? Your voice sounds different when you smile than when you don’t, right? If you didn’t realize it, try it out?
Activities to Try Out
- Pick any sentence or even a word. First say it out loud, but without smiling. Then, stamp a wide smile on your face (can be real or not) and say that same sentence again. And then, with a genuine smile, once more! Record it all three times, and you might just hear the smile in your voice!
- Or you could simply try the activity mentioned here in this NPR article with others. In short, this was a study conducted to show how you can hear a smile, and they had people respond to various questions with the same answer, which was, “I do in the summer.” So you could ask them, “do you read?” Their answer would be, “I do in the summer.” Then, it could be, “do you swim?” – same answer, and so on, no matter the question. This ends up with people smiling differently based on the questions they are answering!
- Read this article about The Science of Smiling that will have you smiling, yes, but also learning quite a bit
Related Reads
- Stories Sure to Make You Smile
- Book Titles That Make You Smile, Grin, or LOL
- Ten Books That Make You Smile
- S is for Smile
And Now, the End of This Post
Dear reader, did this post have you smiling out loud? Are your eyes twinkling with a smile now? Or maybe it is a grin instead? Or could also be a grimace with the mention of way too many smiles? Do let me know whatever the case may be! And as always, I welcome any and all comments and recommendations.
This is for Day ten of UBC; also known as Ultimate Blog Challenge. This post also goes towards IMWAYR over at TeachMentorTexts
These sound so cute. Kids need reasons to smile and laugh!