Love Bug? Hugs and Kisses for the Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

The Ladybug is grouchy. And when Ladybug is out of sorts, nobody is smiling!

Maybe a smile can turn a frown upside down, but it's not working with this very Grouchy Ladybug.

A little embrace can make a crocodile smile. A little smooch will make a seal flap his flippers.

A little hug can help a mama kangaroo and her joey jump with joy, a giraffe stretch tall, or get a donkey kicking up his hind hooves!

And just little kiss will inspire a peacock to ...

... STRUT HIS STUFF.

So can some hugs and kisses coax a smile out of that grouchy ladybug?

Favorite author-illustrator Eric Carle has crafted a nifty new picture book for the Valentine season, his just-published Hugs and Kisses for the Grouchy Ladybug (Harper Collins, 2018), in which he proves that a little love goes a long way. Carle's signature tissue-collaged artwork is iconic and instantly recognizable, especially for youngsters who already know his classics, The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Pair this one with Carle's other loving and lovely Love from The Very Hungry Caterpillar (The World of Eric Carle) (see review here).

Besame' Mucho! I LOVE Kisses by Sheryl McFarlane

Let us count the ways of kisses!

BABY BROTHER DROOL KISSES!

SPLASHING IN THE POOL KISSES.

Kitty kisses come with scratchy tongues!

Daddy kisses come with un-shaved chin prickles.

TEN TICKLEY TOES KISSES.
EASY SNUGGLY NOSE KISSES!

There are sweet and icky candy heart kisses, and big smoochy lipsticky kisses. A kiss can cure a scraped "I fell down" knee, and a sleep-tight kiss can make bedtime a little better.

It takes all kinds of kisses, in Sheryl McFarlane's I Love Kisses (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018), a happy celebration of the smooch with jolly rhyming couplets by the author and joyful comic illustrations by artist Brenna Vaughn, set within a wide variety of families, kids, pets, and places. Big smackeroos can be serious cures for the bumps and scrapes of life depicted in illustrator Vaughn's cheery cityscape. Says School Library Journal, "The soft lines for noses, puppy ears, and treetops contrast with the crisp lines of buildings, swing sets, and window frames which creates a sense of both groundedness and whimsy."