Have A Nice Day by Julie Halpern

For my summer reading assignment, I read the book Have A Nice Day by Julie Halpern. A good quote from the book that supports my main idea or theme is, “I hit send, and a warm feeling rushed through me. Sentiments from those who cared about you, no matter how small, were important. I remembered back to all those e get will soon cards people sent me at Lake Shit. I think they worked” This quote was found at the very end of the book. Anna had typed Justin an email back saying how much she was thinking about him. All throughout the book, people have been sending Anna letters from Lakeland. Anna had also received small acts of kindness from those from her school. That is why the theme of the book is “sentiments from those who cared about you, no matter how small, [are] important.” At the beginning of the book, Anna was a very self-centered person. She would always want to work by herself and she thought that people would think differently of her because she was at a mental hospital for three weeks. But, by the end of the book, Anna has become more open to new ideas and people. A reason why she might have evolved throughout the book is that so many things have happened to her since she left the hospital. For example her parents got a divorce and she was able to meet her crush, Justin at a coffee shop after both of them got out of the hospital. So many of these feelings that she experienced has allowed her evolve as a person. She has become a more understanding person. At one part of the book, Anna comes home from school and her mother calls her over to the dining table for dinner. Anna takes attendance of who actually made it to the dinner. She came to know that her, her mother, and her sister were at the table but her father wasn't. Anna does not appreciate her father as much as she appreciates her mother so, she was kind of glad to learn that her father was not at dinner. But, Anna soon finds her father come in late to dinner from work. Also, to her despise, she learns that her father and mother are getting divorced. This news breaks her heart and is also one of the reasons that she is the "changed" Anna at the end of the book.

 

The Have A Nice Day article that I found talks about the book's summary. There are also some reviews of other poeple who have read the book. The site also talks about the backgroud of the author of the book. Some people think that this book is a Laugh-Out-Loud type of funny.