Embraceable You! The Hug by Scott Campbell

HERE I COME!

I AM THE HUG MACHINE!

This kid figuratively hangs out a shingle for his version of EXTREME HUGGING!

Hugging his mom is a piece of cake. It comes naturally.

Hugging a mailbox? Cuddling a cranky baby? No problem.

But a porcupine? That takes special devotion and his own self-styled HAZMAT suit--boots, facemask, oven mitts, and a protective pillow over the contact zone.

Mission accomplished!

The next challenge is hugging a whale. No way he's getting his ever-loving arms around that! But whales NEVER get a hug, so he rappells down the behemoth's back, hugging and marking his progress as he goes.

But being a embracing machine is tiring work, and sometimes a guy just needs for his Mom to give him the hug, in Scott Campbell's Hug Machine (Atheneum Books, 2014). Campbell's faux naif illustrations, with rough outlines and splotchy watercolors, are loaded with preschooler-pleasing charm, and it's not hard to love his sweet little hugging hero. Says the Center for Children's Books, "Whether for bedtime or storytime, affectionate kids and adults will thoroughly embrace (ahem) this fuzzy and goofy paean to cuddling."