How Daddies DO It! Daddy Hugs by Nancy Tafuri

"I LOVE DRIPPY HUGS," SAYS LITTLE TURTLE."JUST-DADDY-AND-ME-HUGS."

With the simple theme that "little ones love hugs," Caldecott author-illustrator Nancy Tafuri gives the daddies of the wild their chance to shine. And do they embrace the opportunity!

Tafuri opens with a raccoon dad and his little one snuggling in the hollow of a tree. It's a sweet sight... but....there's more!

"I LOVE DRIPPY HUGS," SAYS LITTLE TURTLE.
JUST-DADDY-AND-ME-HUGS!"

Tafuri's hook for little ones is that each two-page spread of Dad and his little one shows, in the background, a tantalizing glimpse of at least part of the animal to be featured next, giving sharp-eyed observers a chance to figure what follows the page turn.  Adult read-alouders, on auto pilot at bedtime, may be surprised when their youngsters seem to have amazing predictive powers.

"I LOVE  WHISKERY HUGS," SAYS LITTLE FOX."

And while he's getting his version of just-Daddy-and-Me-Hugs, a big quail soars by, obviously on a mission--a hugging mission--as we see in the next double-page spread, in which Little Bobwhite gets his own "feathery hugs," from his dad.  There are also daddy hugs from Mr. Skunk, Fox, Chipmunk, Beaver, Chipmunk, and Owl, and finally a human parent and child enjoying the best of hugs....

"... GOODNIGHT. SWEET DREAMS, MY LITTLE ONE."

With a repeating and repeatable refrain and Tafuri's big, signature pencil and watercolored drawings, good to teach tots animal names and a bit about their habitats,Daddy Hugs (Little, Brown and Company, 2014) is both a bedtime story and a nature lesson in one.  Tafuri also throws in some fun-to-spot bit parts for an orb spider in her web, a dragonfly, a bee, and an ever-present lady bird beetle on every page.

The author also appends a list of featured animals and their official names (downy woodpecker, American gray squirrel) and challenges older readers to spot and point out arachnids, insects, mammals, reptiles, mollusks, worms, and amphibians depicted throughout.

Read this one with Tafuri's lovely companion book, All Kinds of Kisses, for a perfect pair of Tafuri tales.

Marsupial Mom: A Wombat's World by Caroline Arnold

Animal study is a staple of elementary grade science, and dipping into introductory taxonomy usually includes a study of a fascinating subgroup of the home page of us all--mammalia--a sojourn into the world of that easily identified subclass marsupials, with their signature pouches.

Caroline Arnold's A Wombat's World (Caroline Arnold's Animals) (Picture Window Books, 2008), with the author's soft cut-paper collages and engaging story of a wombat mother's preparations for and care of her growing baby, is especially appealing and accessible to primary grade students.

Arnold, an author/illustrator well known for her nonfiction nature study books, leisurely tells the story of a mother wombat, beginning with the digging out of a new tunnel and chamber for herself and her expected baby. The reader sees the tiny bean-sized, hairless baby finding its way to her pouch for the first six months of its life. The author then deftly pictures the wombat's habits and behavior--its daytime sleep in the cool of the underground chamber, its nocturnal feeding habits, its predators, and the development of the single baby, which nurses and stays with its mother until it is ready for independence at about 15 months of age. Small colored text boxes set off significant facts related to each double-page spread (e.g., "Dangers to wombats include dingoes, foxes, and eagles.")

Included is a useful appendix which features a map of Australia, showing the range of the common wombat, featured here, and its relatives, the southern hairy-nosed wombat and its less numerous variant, the northern hairy-nosed wombat; "Wombat Fun Facts;" a glossary of terms; a short bibliography, "To Learn More" with books and a website (Facthound.com); and a brief but detailed index.

Books in the Caroline Arnold's Animals series feature other marsupials (kangaroos and koalas) as well as pandas, penguins, zebras, killer whales, and that mammal in a class almost by itself, the platypus.