SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE

by R.E.M.
illustrations by Paul Hoppe with Shinyeon Moon

Akashic Books
(www.akashicbooks.com)
2021, 32 pages, $16.95

ISBN 978-1-61775-851-5

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Inspired and guided by a very popular song by the artist R.E.M., SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE is a graphical story of just what the song is all about: the beauty of acceptance in society, besides being different looking or coming from different backgrounds. Even though some of us look different, we are all, essentially, the same, with identical fears, passions, skepticisms, personas and outlooks on life.

In this story, friends Rabbit and Fox are being shunned, angrily, by the Rabbit family. “No Foxes allowed here!” they shout from every page. But a shared love of carrots allow the two families to get along, to find acceptance. Not to mention coffee . . . and dancing . . .