DO YOU LOVE ME?

One half of the How Are You Peeling? team (with Saxton Freymann, 1999) leaves food behind to combine forces with the producers of The Little Einsteins TV show to create “the Snuzzles,” mouthless, shiny-eyed, balloon-like animals in saturated hues. The short, rhyming text takes the form of questions posed by young ones and answered by parents: “ ‘do you love me?’ / ‘always, dear.’ / ‘do you need me?’ / ‘ever near.’ ” The minimalist design, which includes the 100% lower-case text in a skinny, sans-serif typeface, places the critters against backgrounds of contrasting colors, in varied orientations. Warm, if not fuzzy. (Picture book. 2-5)