Operation: Happy - Jenni L. Walsh - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Jenni L. Walsh

NARRATORS: Gail Shalan and Brian Holden

GENRE: Middle-grade Historical Fiction.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 2, 2024

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade historical fiction about a little girl’s experiences during and after the events of Pearl Harbor. Based on a true story. A bit too dark for the age group, but a good read for those who can handle it.

Plot Preview:

1940. Jody is excited when her father is transferred to a small naval base in Pearl Harbor. She always creates a “top ten” list for every new home her military family moves to, but this time, the excitement is greater as it is the first time she will have her wonderful pet, an ex-military sentry dog named Happy, by her side. When Jody learns that Happy is slowing down, she resolves to do as many fun things as she can in the time she has left with him. However, this plan is affected when her mother has some ominous feelings about the island. When her worst fears come true, Jody’s father needs to stay behind but the rest of the family (Jody, her mom and her elder sister Peggy) is evacuated to San Francisco, which will bring new challenges in their lives.

The story comes to us in Jody’s first person perspective, with some chapters from Happy’s third person pov.

Bookish Yays:

🐶 I was thankful for the small note at the start, telling us that Happy will be fine during the story. We dog lovers want doggies to be safe and “happy” even in fiction.

🐶 Jody’s perspective is exactly as a child would sound like when excited or worried or determined. I liked her character, and felt sad at how the two main adults in her life failed her.

🐶 Happy is excellent. I love how his confusion at human vocabulary and his fondness for silly words is included in his narration, as well as his propensity to copy the way Jody talks. I wish there had been even more chapters from his view. Dogs make every book brighter, and Happy is no exception. I am glad the author made this fictional addition to a factual story.

🐶 Appreciate the realistic representation of the lives of military families, the focus on how scary wartime can be for children and animals, and the mention of the bias against Japanese Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack.

🐶 Loved the pun in the title. Happy is an operation as well as the pet dog's name. Thus, ‘Operation: Happy’ includes fun activities with Happy the dog as well as Jody’s elaborate attempt to maintain a happy face while their domestic situation was crumbling.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🐾 The book can be divided into three distinct parts: pre, during and post Pearl Harbor. The pre-attack section was my favourite. The second section didn’t take that many chapters but it was still well written, though a bit traumatising to read. However, the final section that’s set in San Francisco didn’t work that well for me. It went a bit haywire by trying to cover too much. The result felt cluttered.

🐾 The story isn't entirely happy unlike what the title and the cover suggest, covering quite a few sad themes that aren’t often a part of middle-grade fiction. Some of the more triggering topics are depression, war-related trauma, and sexual assault. I felt like the book went overboard with the misery, especially in the post-Pearl Harbor section, but the author’s note reveals that the story is based on true incidents written in the memoir by Pearl Harbor survivor Joan Zuber Earle. This memoir, while speaking about the children during the war, aimed at adults. So it could get away with darker content. But as this book is aimed at middle-graders, I am not sure if it works as effectively.

🐾 While we know that there is a 1.5 years gap between Jodi and her elder sister Peggy, their actual ages (12 and 13 respectively) aren’t revealed until the 87% mark. This left me quite uncertain for most of the book as I couldn’t understand if the character depiction was realistic or not.

🐾 I thought the story might stop at exploring the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, but it goes a year beyond. This means that the ending isn’t exactly the end of the war, but the end of Jody’s struggles. I did like this ending, but I am not sure if I like a book to stop in between a major war.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at close to 5 hours, is narrated by Gail Shalan and Brian Holden. Both the narrators were exceptional. After the first chapter, I actually googled to see if Gail Shalan was a tween/teen-aged narrator, because she was so good at voicing Jody. Her exuberant narration was perfect. Brian Holden was somewhat overshadowed but that’s also because he had to voice only Happy while Gail voiced a variety of characters. But his rendition of Happy was spot on. If your child listens to audiobooks, this would be a fabulous one, as long as they are okay with the sadder themes.

All in all, it’s not like I hated anything about the book. However, the book contains many incidents that could be a tad too upsetting for the target age group, even though the writing approaches the content delicately.

Recommended, but with hesitation. I don’t feel comfortable advocating it to younger middle-graders. Maybe it would work better for younger teens, children aged 11-14. Discretion advised before handing the book to sensitive children. But if you do opt to give this a go, the audiobook is a great option.

My thanks to Zonderkidz and NetGalley for the ALC of “Operation: Happy”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.