Besame Mucho! The Biggest Kiss by Joanna Walsh

KISSES ON NOSES,

KISSES ON TOESIES,

SUDDEN KISSES WHEN YOU LEAST SUPPOSES.

In her just-published The Biggest Kiss (Paula Wiseman Books) (Simon & Schuster, 2011) Joanna Walsh doesn't hesitate to go for sweet and cute in her new book celebrating the kiss.

"Everybody's doing it!" she seems to be saying, and her free-wheeling rhyming text playfully pulls out all the stops, varying meter and rhyme scheme, but sacrificing nothing in a headlong tour of the animal kingdom. Frog princes sell kisses to assorted fauna, and ants share a smooch perched on an azure elephant's trunk, while the elephant reaches off-page for a buddy to buss.

DO WORMS KISS UNDERGROUND,

WITH THE SOIL ALL AROUND?

But after a romantic roam through the animal kingdom, Walsh brings it home, with a the mother penguin narrator cuddling her little one with a reassuring penguin kiss:

BUT THE BEST KISS...

... IS A KISS FROM YOU!

The fun of Walsh's joyful verse is extended by Judi Abbott's cuddly, rounded critters and bright palette, producing an altogether heart-y book for sharing between adults and little ones.