For anyone looking to get into manga (or a Japanese comic) in general, YOTSUBA&! is a perfect starting point. The story follows a young, green-haired girl in Japan as she discovers everything around her with new eyes. The title, with its seemingly unnecessary punctuation, is a little hard to appreciate at first, but once you start reading the book, its meaning becomes clearer: Each chapter revolves around Yotsuba learning about a different thing—mostly through her adoptive father and their neighbors—and the chapters are named in the same way (Yotsuba and moving, Yotsuba and ice cream, and so on). As for the exclamation mark, you soon find out that the girl revels in nearly every new thing she encounters. A tagline you’ll find in the back of each book is “enjoy everything,” and that’s largely what makes YOTSUBA&! such a nice read. I challenge you to read one chapter of one book and not come away from it wanting to have your own child or, at the very least, ending up with a big smile.

The one thing that will unfortunately turn a lot of people off to this book is its format. In its original form, YOTSUBA&! reads as a typical manga—from right to left (publishers used to “flip” these books years ago, but this process has stopped almost entirely in order to protect the artists’ original visions). It does take some getting used to, but it’s totally worth it. So, broaden your horizons and give it a shot! YOTSUBA&! is perfect for what it is: a light read any time you need a pick-me-up.