Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Boy Who Collected Laughter

The Boy Who Collected Laughter

Mitchell, Evelyn

Paperback

General Juvenile Fiction

ISBN13: 9798182906210
Publisher: Evelyn Mitchell
Published: Oct 12 2026
Pages: 148
Weight: 0.41
Height: 0.37 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

In a forgotten industrial town where silence has settled over abandoned mills and shuttered streets, a quiet boy named Minh discovers that laughter can hold a power far greater than anyone imagines.At the edge of town stands Starlight Meadow Funfair, a once-magical amusement park left to rust for twenty years. Its Ferris wheel hangs motionless, its wooden carousel horses stand frozen beneath a decaying canopy, and its once-brilliant lights have faded into darkness. To most people, the fairground is nothing more than a relic of a happier past. To Minh, a thoughtful boy with an engineer's mind and a restless imagination, it is a sleeping machine waiting for the right spark.His discovery begins with an unexpected miracle. When a small child bursts into genuine laughter, Minh witnesses a glowing amber sphere emerge from the air itself. The mysterious light is warm, alive, and invisible to everyone else. When he places it inside one of the carousel's ancient glass lamps, the dead machinery responds, and a forgotten corner of the fairground briefly comes alive.Determined to restore Starlight Meadow, Minh begins collecting these extraordinary sparks of laughter. But he soon learns that joy cannot be manufactured, demanded, or extracted through fear. Forced laughter produces something cold and lifeless, while genuine happiness carries a rare energy born from honesty, vulnerability, and the freedom to let go.His quest draws him into the painful history of Franklin Moore, the fairground's reclusive caretaker, whose grief has turned the abandoned park into a private fortress. Behind its locked gates lies a sorrow that cannot be repaired with tools, electricity, or even the brightest captured light. As Minh uncovers the truth, he must confront the difference between preserving happiness and allowing it to live.With the help of unexpected allies, Minh begins to understand that Starlight Meadow was never merely a collection of rides and lamps. It was built to give a struggling community a reason to gather, to hope, and to remember that life could still hold wonder. Its future depends not on one boy's collection, but on the courage of an entire town to share what it has kept hidden.The Boy Who Collected Laughter is a moving tale of magical discovery, buried grief, family secrets, and the healing power of genuine connection. Blending atmospheric mystery with a touch of wonder, it explores how joy becomes meaningful when it is freely given-and why some lights shine brightest when no one tries to keep them for themselves.

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