By S

hawn

Ach

or a

nd A

my

Blan

kson

Illust

rate

d by

Cec

ilia R

ebor

a

Ripple’sEf ect

Ripple’sEf ect

Copyright © 2012 by Little Pickle Press LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or

stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording,

without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012942575

ISBN 978-0-9829938-7-3

16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Printed in the United States of AmericaFirst edition 2012

Little Pickle Press LLCPO Box 983, Belvedere, CA 94920

Please visit us at www.littlepicklepress.com.

For Christiana and Gabriella, whose smiles bring somuch joy to our lives and the world around them.

~ S.A. & A.B.

To Luis, Mateo, and Inés, who create a ripple efect for me every day.

~ C.R.

Ripple’sEf ect

Little Pickle Press

By Shawn Achor and Amy Blankson

Illustrated by Cecilia Rebora

Ripple looked around as the dolphin trainers carried her from the truck to

her new home. She may have looked calm, but her tail fin was trembling.

Ripple took a deep breath and dove into her new pool. After a long ride,

she was ready to stretch her fins. She began a quick loop of the pool

to meet her new friends—there were sea turtles,

tropical fish, penguins, otters,

and . . .

“Code Blue! Code Blue!” shouted a blowfish nearby,

puffing up in self-defense.

Ripple darted away as fast as she could and hid behind a large coral reef.

What were SHARKS doing in the pool? Carefully, Ripple peered

around the edge of the coral to get a better look.

SHARKS!

Ripple’s heart was pounding as one of the sharks swam in her direction.

The shark swam slowly and deliberately, hissing loudly and deliberately

as he breathed in and out. The fish in his path bolted away.

As the shark swam away, the blowfish exhaled, “Whew!”

“Who was that?” Ripple asked, still shaking.

“That’s Snark, the biggest, m-m-meanest shark you can imagine.

I’ve heard he’s eaten entire tanks of fish when he wasn’t even hungry,”

the blowfish sputtered nervously. “My name is Bob—what’s yours?”

“I’m Ripple—pleased to meet you. Hey, wanna play?”

“Are you kidding?” a wide-eyed Bob asked. “We can’t play!

Do you see anyone in here playing? You’ll get eaten alive!”

Ripple saw that Bob was right. The penguins stayed ashore, frozen

on their rocks. The otters only dipped in the water to clean off.

The sea turtle spent half his time pretending to be an empty shell.

Even the young fish went straight to school and came right home.

Frustrated, Ripple floated to the surface to blow off some steam. How could

anyone live like this? “I’m not going to let this shark stop me!” Ripple

defiantly blew a bubble into the water and swam right through it. She blew

another and then another, popping bubbles as though they were party balloons.

Soon, Ripple was spinning and twirling through the tank. She was having so

much fun that she didn’t feel the water become really still. As she burst her

biggest bubble, she turned around and found herself beak-to-snout with . . .

“Hey there, Pimple,” Snark sneered

at Ripple. “Who gave you permission to play

like that in MY tank? I could snap you with my teeth!”

“I . . . I didn’t know. I mean, nobody told me that it was . . . your tank.”

Ripple spluttered. “I just love to have fun.”

“Fun? Don’t let it happen again, Dim Fin,” Snark growled, poking Ripple

clumsily in the ribs. “Or there will be consequences.” He turned slowly, then

whipped his tail fin around, reeling Ripple backwards.

Stunned, Ripple sank back against the tank walls and let the tears fall from her eyes.

Though no one could tell she was crying in the water, all of her pep was gone.

SNARK!

Ripple looked up and saw her trainer splashing the surface

of the water and calling her. Curious, she swam up slowly.

“Time for your first day of training exercises. You are going

to love it! Are you ready?” the trainer asked with an infectious

smile on her face. Ripple looked down sadly and shook

her head no.

“What’s wrong, Ripple? You’re looking so blue.” The trainer

gave Ripple a much-needed hug, and then flashed a big

smile. “I bet I can make you smile. Follow me.”

“Ripple! Ripple, come here!”

The trainer walked over to the toy bin and came back with a large mirror. The

trainer held up the mirror in one hand for Ripple to see. At first, Ripple just saw

her sad blank face in the mirror. But suddenly, the trainer surprised her by

throwing a fish in her direction. Ripple opened her mouth wide to

catch the fish, and glimpsed herself breaking into a smile in the

mirror. Maybe this place will be fun after all, she thought.

“You see, Ripple?” her trainer asked. “Dolphins were made to play and laugh and

smile. It’s part of who you are—but happiness is also a choice. Things may not

always go our way, but we can choose how we see our world and make it a

better place because of who we choose to be. Now let’s go have some more fun.”

The trainer taught her to play fetch

and to bounce a ball with her nose.

For the grand finish, her trainer held a target

high in the air, and Ripple jumped with all her

might, touching the target with her nose and

flipping backward into the water.

By the end of practice, she was smiling so

much that her trainer laughed out loud as

she waved goodbye.

Ripple dove back down to tell Bob and her other friends about her training,

and her enthusiasm was contagious. Pretty soon, more fish gathered and the

crowd was talking so loudly that no one even noticed Snark and his posse

sneaking up on them.

“What’s this?” Snark roared, ready to lunge at the giggling dolphin. “I thought

I warned you about having fun, Bubble Brain. What is all this laughing about?”

“We’re having—fun!” Ripple squeaked. From the corner of the tank, a group

of pre-school fish broke out in rowdy laughter. Ripple didn’t even try to wipe

the smile off of her face. Snark’s beady eyes narrowed; he was ready to lunge.

“Psst, excuse me,” one of Snark’s friends whispered from behind him.

“Boss, why do they get to have all the fun?”

Snark flashed pointy teeth in warning.

“You can have fun, too,” Ripple offered. “In fact, I’m so confident that

I can make you smile that I DARE you not to smile. How about this?

If I can make you smile, we all get to play to our hearts’ content. If I lose,

everyone in the tank will stop having fun. Deal?”

A murmur spread across the crowd as Snark thought for a moment.

“Deal,” he sneered with confidence. “You’re going to lose, Knuckle Nose.”

“Okay, here’s how it works. We have to look each other in the eyes for one

minute. So no eating me—that’s part of the deal.” Ripple explained.

As the time started, Ripple shivered as she swam eye-to-eye with Snark.

She swallowed her fear—this was her chance to save the tank! The other

fish started to wonder: Was Ripple a crazy dolphin? What tricks could

she possibly have up her dorsal fin?

Ripple carefully looked into Snark’s eyes, and then burst into the biggest,

cheesiest, happiest grin you have ever seen. She just held the smile, her

eyes dancing as if she had just heard the best joke of all time.

Snark looked very uncomfortable—something funny was starting to happen

inside of him, and he began to twitch. He tried to suppress this new feeling

by squinting his eyes, tucking in his tail, and sucking in his tummy.

All of a sudden, a muffled giggle and a lot of bubbles

escaped from his lips. Snark let go and burst into

laughter, which caused his shark posse to follow suit.

Soon, the rest of the fish in the tank were giggling

so much that the tank looked like a whirlpool tub full

of waves and bubbles.

Oh no! I think . . . I might . . .

Outside the tank, tourists started

to snap pictures and smile as they

watched. A shark and a dolphin laughing and

frolicking in bubbles together? This would make history!

When Snark finally caught his breath from laughing so hard, he swam over

to Ripple. “Um, I don’t know how to say this, but . . . thanks. I’ve never had

so much fun in my life—thanks for teaching me how to smile. By the way,

my real name is Seaborne.”

“Seaborne? I’m Ripple. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She offered her fin for a high five, and together

Seaborne and Ripple smiled their goofiest grins

for the cameras.

Can you make a shark smile today?

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Shawn Achor is the author of the national bestseller, The Happiness Advantage. He spent over a decade at Harvard University studying happiness. After graduating magna cum laude, he earned a master’s degree in Chris-tian and Buddhist ethics. To bridge the gap between what he and others had learned in research on happiness and what most people were utilizing in their daily lives, Shawn founded Good Think, Inc. Although Shawn’s work has been widely published, the research findings had never been shared with children. He decided to partner with his sister, Amy Blankson, to get this valuable information into kids’ hands early, so that a generation of children could be raised with the happiness advantage.

Amy Blankson has consulted for over fifteen years with businesses, foundations, and nonprofit organizations around the country about how to create positive and productive leaders. She received her B.A. from Harvard and M.B.A. from Yale School of Management. She was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Board of Directors for the Corporation for National Service (which oversees AmeriCorps), and was named a Point of Light by Presidents Bush and Clinton. Amy has devoted her career to teaching individuals of all ages to be positive, contributing members of society. As a mother of three, she hopes Ripple’s Effect will inspire young people to make a positive difference in their world.

Cecilia Rebora belongs to a creative family of painters, and a wood carver. She was raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she still lives. Shortly after beginning her studies in the arts, Cecilia discovered that what she enjoyed most in life was telling stories with pictures. She studied for three years at the Josep Serra I Abella School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and it was there that she truly fell in love with the profession. She has since published around thirty children’s books worldwide. When not illustrating, she enjoys sipping a hot cappuccino and taking in the sun on a chilly morning, but what she loves the most is to spend time with her two kids, Mateo, four, and Inés, three.

To parents interested in raising positive outliers,Over the past decade, we have made incredible breakthroughs in our understanding of happiness and its connec-tion with life-long success. This research helped prove that happiness leads to success, not the other way around. Happiness is a choice and a learned skill--and happiness spreads. With the discovery of the mirror neurons in the brain, we now know that we are all connected. When you smile, my mirror neurons light up, telling me I am the one smiling. (We also pick up on negativity like second-hand smoke.) We can make a ripple effect of positivity if we begin to choose happiness ourselves. If positive individuals gain control from bullies and negative people, they can refashion a world that is based on the advantages that happiness brings. But science is useless unless it is lived and shared. We hope you will keep Ripple’s Effect going. Gratefully, Shawn Achor and Amy Blankson

Ripple’s Effect is a sweet and inventive take on thwarting a bully.

Ripple’s good nature and quick wits make this a fun and helpful read

for anyone who’s had to deal with a “Snark”.

~Nancy Coffelt, author/illustrator of Aunt Ant Leaves Through the Leaves

Ripple’s Effect teaches kids that it’s never too soon to learn

about the power of a smile, and that facing fear with friendliness

could turn a bully into a buddy.

~Cristina Kessler, author of The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela

Ripple’s Effect proves sometimes a simple

smile can spark a shark to play nice.

~Coleen Paratore, author of BIG

ACHO

R • BLA

NKSO

N •

REBORA

www.littlepicklepress.com

Ripple’s Effect

By S

hawn

Ach

or a

nd A

my

Blan

kson

Illust

rate

d by

Cec

ilia R

ebor

a

Ripple’sEf ect