Tiny Moments of Joy: Spotted on Market Day in Aotearoa New Zealand

by George Penney

Read by hundreds of thousands of people globally every day, George Penney's small slices of New Zealand life offer cozy moments of calm in chaotic times.

Come for a walk with me...


Take a moment to forget about your worries and enjoy these tiny instances of warmth, curiosity, humour and creativity, spotted over the course of a year on market day in Aotearoa New Zealand.

These heartwarming vignettes, captured in a fleeting instant, are a gentle reaffirmation that there are always moments of joy to be found in the world.

255 pages, Paperback

Published November 11, 2025

Reviews

[Kenneth Feller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a different read for me. To give you some context: I struggle with poetry. It's like my brain is wired to reject fancy word play. By reading Tiny Moments of Joy, I feel like I understand the appeal.

Bite-sized pieces of emotion. This is like poetry without the poetic prose.

I've been comfort-snacking my way through this book on my struggle days. The cozy snippets of life in my hometown give me some much needed chill, and I can see myself returning for a re-read when needed.

I'm looking forward to reading More Tiny Moments of Joy.

[Scott McCormick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, life-affirming, guaranteed to put a smile on your face. I read all or most of these when Penney originally posted them on social media, but having them handy in a beautiful book is such a nice little present to give yourself. Each vignette has a zen/haiku-like beauty to it, and this book will help you decompress in seconds, which, given the state of the world, is something we could all use. This one's a gem, folks.