For kids who love hugs and aren’t afraid to share them.
Daddy Bear and his son spend the day seeking out and hugging forest denizens.
Their breakfast of honey having given them a “warm, sweet feeling inside,” the two set off to find Mr. Beaver to give him a squeeze. Though the recipient is at first frightened, he acquiesces to a hug and is pleased to find that “it felt strange but nice.” Litte Bear wants to give out more hugs (troublingly, Daddy Bear states that “Hugging always makes you feel good”), so the two spend the rest of their day passing out hugs to at-first-reluctant forest animals (Dziubak’s bears show no teeth, but they are big and do have fearsome claws). And at the end of the day, Little Bear points out what observant readers will have seen all along: they’ve forgotten someone very important. Readers used to such fare as Who Invited You, by Candace Fleming and illustrated by George Booth (2001), and Oliver and His Alligator, by Paul Schmid (2013), will be waiting for the other shoe to drop, especially when Ms. Anaconda says it would be her pleasure to get a hug from the bears. But it never comes—this is simply a sweet tale about making others feel good by giving them hugs. The seemingly digital illustrations raise and lower tension with each page turn; though the animals’ faces are not consistently expressive, Dziubak packs plenty of humor in by playing with composition and relative size.
For kids who love hugs and aren’t afraid to share them. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-142-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: words & pictures
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An instructive tale about big feelings, lightened up by a furious kid’s theatrics.
An angry child attempts to calm down.
A kid with paper-white skin, clad in a blue dress and striped tights, makes an absurd request: “Can we get a pet penguin, name it Marshmallow, and feed it carrots?” Mom, off-stage, says simply, “Not today,” and the tot transforms into a rather odd creature: a spicy nugget! The nugget is imperfectly ovoid in form, with red rosy cheeks, rage-filled dot-eyes, and a spiraling black-hole mouth. The sight gag works beautifully: When one feels truly angry, all poise disappears, leaving only a flailing ball of rage. Our protagonist hurls a teddy bear, unsuccessfully tries out a list of calming methods, and finally retreats to bed, where “I can feel my breathing; I know that I am safe.” The youngster reverts back to human form, and Mom arrives with kind words: “You are not your big feelings. You are not your angry thoughts.” The takeaway is unmistakable, especially at the story’s conclusion: It’s OK to get mad and important to practice coping strategies. The young narrator expresses emotion with fabulous vigor, though the story’s lilting rhyme scheme occasionally distracts from these outbursts with cuteness. Nonetheless, this increasingly enraged nugget-child is irresistible; anyone who’s grappled with overwhelming emotions will relate—in a word, everyone.
An instructive tale about big feelings, lightened up by a furious kid’s theatrics. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798217042142
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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