A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears
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| Author | Jules Feiffer |
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| Illustrator | Jules Feiffer |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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1995 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 180 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 33950950 |
| LC Class | PZ8.F358 Bar 1995 |
A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears is a children's book written and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, first published in 1995 by HarperCollins. The first edition was a library binding with 180 pages.
WorldCat Identities contains records of seven editions of this book in 765 libraries worldwide
A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears follows the young prince Roger, who haphazardly sets out on a quest to prepare himself to become king. The book expresses the emotions of various individuals through two long-lost lovers reunited, several unlikely couples marrying, and a friend-turned-evil's attempts for revenge. While Roger himself starts out as pure and innocent, he seems somewhat naive and incapable of feeling serious.
The quest, which contains plenty of sad events, gradually brings Roger to a point where he still is humorous, but is caring about specific individuals as opposed to finding shallow humor in everything. The beautiful Princess Petulia, and her servant, likewise, find similar changes in personality through their experiences, as they go from being bitterly indifferent to loving and plainspoken to kinder respectively.
A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears is a fantasy story about a young prince named Roger who has never seen a sad thing in the course of his life. As a result, he is always happy. He also emits a happy radiance that causes people near him to laugh. Determined to have his son sober up to prepare to rule the kingdom, Roger's father, King Whatchimacallit, orders his wizard to train Roger. The wizard sends Roger off on a very mysterious quest (Roger doesn't even know what to look for), leaving him with a bottomless bag of magic powder, used to turn Roger into a random object to keep him from making people helpless with laughter.
Roger sets off into the Forever Forest which, true to its name, is unending. The forest is filled with people who are lost from years of wandering and Roger forgets his quest to amuse them. In this way, he befriends a peasant named Tom, who does not get along well with the book's narrator. The wizard, in an effort to encourage Roger to leave the forest, causes the supply of magic powder to decrease. Roger, in an effort to restart his quest, tries to think of a way to escape the forest and attempts to walk out backwards which, strangely enough, works. Out of the forest, he becomes trapped in the Dastardly Divide, a barren, rock-filled land. He meets a woman called Lady Sadie who is a servant to the Princess Petulia, a woman so beautiful that all who look at her turn to stone, who has been kidnapped by a lonely giant named Philip.
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