In this upbeat book, journalist Kaplan recounts how a New Year's Eve resolution leads to a year of living gratefully. It turns out that just looking through the gratitude lens and keeping a gratitude journal can truly adjust one's attitude. Kaplan begins winter focusing on marriage, love, and family. Indeed, she is on a mission to find a reason to thank her husband and kids daily, a practice that makes the whole family a little kinder. In spring, Kaplan looks at her career, money, and stuff we own (how long are we grateful for something new?). Summer finds her appreciating what she eats and losing weight and getting healthier in the process. Finally, in fall, Kaplan looks at coping, caring, and connecting. She talks to people who find ways to be grateful while facing cancer, alcoholism, and prison. Included among her personal stories and epiphanies are the results of scientific research on gratitude and quotes from celebrities she spoke with, including Daniel Craig, Matt Damon, and Jerry Seinfeld. Uplifting and entertaining, this book is sure to give readers a more positive perspective.--Smith, Candace Copyright 2015 Booklist

Kaplan (I'll See You Again) shares her journey of embracing a lifestyle of gratitude for one year, and the practice's remarkable effects on her physical and mental well-being. Over the course of the year, Kaplan focuses on being thankful for her husband, children, sister, career, and financial status. She keeps a "gratitude journal," adheres to a "gratitude diet," and begins reframing negative situations to accentuate the positive. Kaplan consults a number of experts, asking a social psychologist about privilege and entitlement, a "gratitude guru" about ambition and achievement, and a medical doctor about the stress-relief and immune system regulation components of gratitude. Nonprofit maven Henry Timms discusses "Giving Tuesday," his antithesis to Black Friday, and Kaplan's friend Jackie Hance remarks on crawling out of a bleak depression after the deaths of her three young daughters in an automobile accident. Other topics include teaching kindness and empathy to children as a means of cultivating gratitude, the value of quality experiences over material possessions, and appreciation as a motivating tool in the workplace. Kaplan's study is insightful and loaded with compelling research and solid techniques for positive thinking, and her own example provides the most convincing testament to her ideas. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.