Do all books have a happy ending?

No, not all books have happy endings. Not even every fairy tale gets neatly wrapped up with a happily ever after! Much like how we have good days and bad days, some books are happy, but some tell stories that might make us sad or angry. Maybe they're nonfiction books, focusing on the lives of real people who went through hard times. Or maybe they're fiction books, but the author thought it was important to tell a story that isn't all sunshine and rainbows.

Just because a book doesn't have a happy ending doesn't mean it's a bad book. Stories can be both heartbreaking and hopeful, upsetting and uplifting. Feeling sad for characters can actually help you connect better to people in real life. This is called empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.

Think about the last book you read with an emotional ending. Do the heroes fail to save the day? Do they lose something important? How did it make you feel? Were you satisfied when you turned the last page?

To learn more about writing and storytelling, check out the Dewey decimal numbers 808 to 810.