Loving thoughts, especially appropriate for bedtime.
Many books have similar titles and highlight the parent-child bond, but this gently flowing rhyme by Stickley elicits new warm, snuggly feelings.
Lush, boldly colored illustrations capture Mommy hedgehog and her son, Hedgie, as they amble through the fall woods. When Hedgie notes the turn of seasons, she explains: “ ‘Everything is changing,’ Mommy said. ‘It’s nature’s way. / But change makes nature lovelier with every passing day.’ ” Hedgie’s questions continue. “Mommy… / would you love me MORE…if I change?” Hedgie repeats his question as they encounter other mother-child pairs (squirrels, dragonflies, frogs, and rabbits), and, each time, Mommy explains that she could not love him more. At the end of the walk, Mommy and Hedgie return to their burrow and Hedgie asks the million-dollar question. “But, Mommy…will love always last forever, / even if I change just like the seasons or the weather?” She reassures him: “ALWAYS.” The final couplet ties the bow on it: “ ‘Always,’ whispered Hedgie / as he curled up in his bed. / ‘Imagine that,’ he murmured. ‘Just imagine,’ Mommy said.” All characters are simply and realistically drawn animals but with anthropomorphic facial expressions and body language. The cartoon landscape they dwell in is a benign one, round-lobed oak leaves, flowing water, and other organic shapes exuding comfort.
Loving thoughts, especially appropriate for bedtime. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-12400-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and subtle book on sharing.
Rudy’s pink sweater is missing. Readers are invited to follow him as he searches for the sweater.
Rudy is a blue creature with a piggy snout, bunny ears, a thin, tufted tail, and a distraught look on his face. His beloved pink sweater is gone. “It was a bit too small and showed his belly button. But it was his favorite.” Where could it be? In a search that doubles as a countdown from 10 to one, Rudy makes his way through the different rooms of the house—top to bottom, inside and outside. As readers open the wardrobe door, “TEN tumbling cats” provide the first hint as to the sweater’s whereabouts. Following the pink yarn that runs across the pages, readers encounter some surprising creatures in each location—including a crocodile sitting in an outhouse busily knitting—as well as flaps to open and die cuts to peek through. Just as he’s about to give up hope—someone must’ve taken it, but “who would love wearing it as much as he did?”—the answer is revealed: “Trudy! His number ONE sister. The sweater fit her perfectly.” And, as is the nature of stories with a happy ending, Rudy gets a new sweater that fits him, from the knitting crocodile, of course. Plot, interactivity, vocabulary, and counting all contribute in making this an engaging book for the upper edge of the board-book range.
A sweet and subtle book on sharing. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3679-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is a tremendously moving story, but some people will be moved only on the second reading, after they’ve Googled “How to...
A hug shouldn’t require an instruction manual—but some do.
A porcupine can frighten even the largest animal. In this picture book, a bear and a deer, along with a small rabbit, each run away when they hear eight simple words and their name: “I need a hug. Will you cuddle me,…?” As they flee, each utters a definitive refusal that rhymes with their name. The repetitive structure gives Blabey plenty of opportunities for humor, because every animal responds to the question with an outlandish, pop-eyed expression of panic. But the understated moments are even funnier. Each animal takes a moment to think over the request, and the drawings are nuanced enough that readers can see the creatures react with slowly building anxiety or, sometimes, a glassy stare. These silent reaction shots not only show exquisite comic timing, but they make the rhymes in the text feel pleasingly subtle by delaying the final line in each stanza. The story is a sort of fable about tolerance. It turns out that a porcupine can give a perfectly adequate hug when its quills are flat and relaxed, but no one stays around long enough to find out except for an animal that has its own experiences with intolerance: a snake. It’s an apt, touching moral, but the climax may confuse some readers as they try to figure out the precise mechanics of the embrace.
This is a tremendously moving story, but some people will be moved only on the second reading, after they’ve Googled “How to pet a porcupine.” (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-29710-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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