Close Family! One Hug by Katrina Moore

ONE HUG,TWO HUGS,

SOMETIMES THREE.

HUGGING MAKES US FAMILY.

There are lots of hugs out there, and all are different.

A puppy hugs nuzzle to nose or with a lick to the toes.

Some hugs from Dad are a swooshy toss, up high.

Some hugs make people smile; some make them cry.

Some hugs are sweet like Grandma's iced tea.

And some hugs are cozy and different, like sleeping with the cousins all in a tent!

There are all kinds of hugs, you see...

ONE HUG TURNS A "ME" TO "WE."

Katrina Moore's One Hug (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, 2019) shows all the ways of family hugs, from Mom and Dad, from pets, from grandmoms, and from visiting cousins. Cute cartoons by illustrator Julia Woolf portrays all sorts of hugs--cuddly, swooshy, whiskery, tickly, and wiggly--from everyone in the family, in this sweet and charming rhyming story that introduces youngsters to hugs from all kinds of family members, explaining that they are something we get and give, all encompassing affection from those who love each other. Says School Library Journal, "... the overall story manages to dig deeper into the many facets of love, affection, and what makes a family."

Total Immersion? How Do You Take a Bath? by Kate McMullan

Animals bathe in many ways that people don't want to imitate--like squirting water through our nose or rolling in the mud without our clothes!

ELEPHANT LIFTS HIS TRUNK AND GIVES HIMSELF A SHOWER.

Okay, that sounds like fun, but for kids, it just can't be done. But then there's Pig's idea of skin care.

Wallowing in mud hour after hour?

Licking ourselves clean like a cat?

Nobody wants to do THAT!

Chickens take a bath in dust! That certainly doesn't appeal to US!

Turtle lets minnows nibble algae from his back. The very thought of that makes a kid say AACKK!

Animals have many clever ways to stay clean, but when it comes to kids, there's a better scene.

DO YOU RUN WATER IN A TUB?

DO YOU CLIMB IN AND SCRUB-A-DUB?

DO YOU DRY OFF, RUB-A-DUB?

Given the options offered in nature, most preschoolers will definitely Say YES to the Bath, in Kate McMullen's jolly prelude to the suds, How Do You Take a Bath? (Alfred A Knopf, 2018).

With funny examples of animal hygiene, McMullan's easy-going but clever little rhymes slip in an easy segue to the bedtime bath that parents will appreciate. Illustrator Sydney Hansen's soft colors and appealing animals--mother bats, hens and chicks, mama monkeys and furry babies, dogs and ducks, and happy hippos at the bird spa--give this one quite a bit of appeal to preschoolers who may not always be ready to hit the suds. And don't forget the rubber ducky!

Kate McMullan is also the celebrated co-author (with Jim McMullan) of such preschool best-sellers as I'm Dirty! (Kate and Jim Mcmullan) and I'm Brave! (Kate and Jim Mcmullan) and their many other standouts for preschoolers (see reviews here).

Boo Time: Eek! Halloween! by Sandra Boynton

THE CHICKENS ARE NERVOUS.

DO YOU KNOW WHY?

Well, who wouldn't be?

It's dark, dark night. Strange figures glimmer into sight.

Pumpkins flicker, nose and eyes alight.
Pumpkins with glowing grins! Can that be right?

A mouse, more ginormous than he ought to be.
A witch and a wizard? Oh, Golly, Gee!

Who are these strange creatures? What will they do?
Suddenly the hens start to get a clue.
A pudgy shrouded shape, moaning BOO?

Now they know WHO!

Before the chickens totally chicken out, Pig sheds his spooky sheet.

Now they know what all this must mean. It's...

HALLOWEEN!

Sandra Boynton's holiday board book, Eek! Halloween! (Workman Publishing, 2016), is a treat (just the right size for that plastic treat pumpkin) for the youngest book lovers. Boynton sets off her familiar silly chickens and portly pig in bright Halloween colors set against black backgrounds that make them pop from the page, in this rhyming story which sets the stage for Halloween fun. "Kids anticipating their first Halloween will be easily convinced that the upcoming holiday is full of spooky fun," says School Library Journal.

YUM-bers! Peanut Butter's Yummy Numbers by Terry Border

10 LITTLE PEANUTS JUMPING ON THE BREAD.

ONE FELL OFF...

Finish that rhyme in four words or less!

Yes, Terry Border's latest spin-off of his hit, Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme, parodies the popular countdown song about five little monkeys and a bed, using the author-illustrator's cutesy little peanuts taking their licks as each leaps one by one on the forbidden bread and land on its head. With this bouncy meter and repeated rhyme, kids will crave to join the countdown, learning their numbers as they sing along.

This time it's not Mama who steps in, but The Baker, who takes charge as his slice of bread gets flatter and sadder and the peanuts' boo boos add up, until it's back to the old oven to bake some more, in Border's latest board book for preschoolers, Peanut Butter's Yummy Numbers: Ten Little Peanuts Jumping on the Bread! (Philomel Books, 2016). There's plenty of punning and funning in store for youngsters until they are ready for arithmetical liftoff with the numbers from one to ten, along with Border's jolly peanut people artfully set in spot-art style against their bright-white pages.

Perhaps pair this one with the Eileen Christelow's beloved classical version, read first, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (A Five Little Monkeys Story), to set the stage for a comparison lesson (What's the same, and what is different?) with twice the counting practice along with double the barrel-of-monkeys snickers.

Counting on One Paw: Bear Counts by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

MOUSE AND BEAR SHARE BREAKFAST.
BASKING IN THE MORNING SUN.
BEAR LOOKS UP AND POINTS,
AND THE BEAR COUNTS... ONE!

Fresh from his mastery of colors, here comes Karma Wilson's beloved Bear in his second concept book, Bear Counts (The Bear Books) (Margaret K. Elderry Books, 2015). This time it's numbers, numbers everywhere for Bear as the day begins.

There's just one robin up in the nest, and just one fresh berry left, which Mouse offers Bear before they begin the day. Down the path they meet Hare with a pair of apples, so Bear adds them to his count. Soon the story begins to get crowded.

BEAR HEARS FUNNY SOUNDS
COMING FROM AN ASPEN TREE.
IT'S RAVEN, OWL, AND WREN,
AND THE BEAR COUNTS... THREE!

NUMBERS, NUMBERS, EVERYWHERE.
1, 2, 3!

As they have throughout their best-selling Bear Books,  author Karma Wilson and ace artist Jane Chapman work together to re-create the charming friendship circle of Bear, Mouse, Hare, and the rest, this time to teach a counting lesson set in Wilson's familiar bouncy verses ("lovely lily pads" rhymed with "pinching crawdads") which count up to five and offer plenty of review in the easy-going "numbers everywhere" refrain which follows each quatrain.

Artist Jane Chapman alternates spot art and full-bleed spreads to introduce the usual forest crew in bright acrylic paintings loaded with lots of countable things besides those in the text. In the final two-page spread Chapman gives the reader a glorious underwater scene as the animals, even the clawful crawdad, jump into the pond for a refreshing swim. For the youngest who may have not met Bear before in Wilson and Chapman's large format picture books, this new series is a great introduction to the friends and fun the longer books offer. Pair this one with its predecessor concept book, Bear Sees Colors (The Bear Books), (see review here) and you can count on requests to "read it again!"

Chicken for Dinner? Dinnertime for Chicks by Janee Trasler

"DINNERTIME, CHICKIES. LET'S ALL EAT

WASH YOUR WINGS AND HAVE A SEAT."

If only it were as easy as their nannies, Cow, Pig, and Sheep, try to make it sound. But it's not so simple to get lively young ones to sit down and eat a proper dinner.

Cow's Tex-Mex tacos are too spicy and Sheep's noodle dish is too drippy. The Chickies insist that they'd prefer something more...um... "chocolate chippy."

But Pig insists that vegetables and meats come before sweet treats, and soon the Chickies are smacking their beaks and chowing down.

PASS THE PEAS...
PASS THE SPUDS AND BROCCOLIS!

Will their tummies have any room left for dessert?

Janee Trasler's dining outing for her darn cute little Chickies, Dinnertime for Chickies (HarperFestival, 2014), has all the appeal of her earlier toddler treats, with a poofy, padded cover, polished pastel palette, and deceptively simply comic characters. Trasler gets a lot of expressive faces out of circles, dots, lines, and a few squiggles, and her vivacious verses are just as memorable. Little listeners will pipe up to finish the clever punchlines the second time around, and the Chickies may even inspire some kids to eat their peas and broccolis when it's their dinnertime.

Trasler's companion board book stories include Bedtime for Chickies, Pottytime for Chickies, and her latest hot and tasty, A New Chick for Chickies.

Daddy's Little Helper: Mighty Dads by Joan Holub

MIGHTY DADS, STRONG AND TALL,
HELP THEIR CHILDREN, YOUNG AND SMALL.

In a double-header picture book that combines the preschool-pleasing construction vehicles with fatherhood, Joan Holub's just published Mighty Dads (Scholastic Press, 2014) celebrates fathers of every sort in chunky rhymes that point up that Dad has two responsibilities, his work in the world and his job teaching his kids what they need to learn.

Dads show their tads how it's done:

DUMP TRUCK STURDY

TEACHES DUMPY TO GET DIRTY.

THEY GO FILL...DRIVE...DUMP!

But Dad also remembers that his little one sometimes needs help.

CEMENT MIXER BUSY
GIVES A HUG IF MIXIE'S DIZZY!

Holub gives her little vehicles charming nicknames: the little bulldozer is Dozy, the little backhoe is Hoe-Hoe, and the small road grader is Grady, offering a chuckle with each description of the work to be done. All the usual suspects of the construction machine genre are there--graders, steam rollers, excavators, cranes, forklifts, boom trucks, all led by dump truck Big Daddy Son.

If the illustrations seem familiar, it's because artist James Dean provides the scratchy black line, daubs of watercolor, and especially those big black-line eyes found in his popular Pete The Cat books. A touch of Dean-style humor can be seen in the tiny trench, the petite pile of dirt, and the small slabs of cement that the little machines create alongside their dad's magnum efforts.

Boys and girls who love big machines will recognize their favorites and join in on Holub's jolly refrains--SPIN, SPIN, SPIN, SCOOP, SCOOP, SCOOP, and SMOOTH, SMOOTH, SMOOTH!--in this salute to doing it with Dad!

For more movers, shakers, and builders, here's a variety of tried-and-true hardhat winners!

Don't Knock There! Beware the Haunted House

WHAT'S IN THAT WINDOW?  IT'S DARK IN THERE!

WHAT IS IT, YOU WONDER.   PEEK IN IF YOU DARE!

There are a lot of beasties who go bump in the night on Halloween, most of them potentially scary to tots and preschoolers. Werewolves and witches at the door! Frankenstein and vampires ringing the bell! Outside on the sidewalk Cinderella holds hands with a ghost, and all of them leap and skip and make funny noises!

Some holiday board books can help mediate the Halloween scene, books which introduce the cast of characters that roam on All Hallow's Eve, and some like Beware the Haunted House (SmartKidz Media, 2013) have a part to play in this holiday. With a Press Here button available on each page to provide the background sound for each page--with flashing lights, howls, and kids giggling at the fun of a small fright--youngsters can experience a preview of the event in advance. And for tots too tiny to make the trek outside with the older tricksters, this book provides a hands-on treat for little apprentice spooks to ease the transition from shake and shiver to treat giver.

Trot with Me: Noni the Pony by Alison Lester

NONI THE PONY IS SHINY AND FAT.

HER BEST FRIENDS ARE DAVE DOG AND COCO  CAT.

Noni is the pony that every boy and girl would want to bring home. She loves to dance and gallop for the entertainment of the cows, ducks and hens, but her favorite fun is playing chase and hide-and-seek with her friends Coco and Dave. Coco even gets to go for a trot on Noni’s back.

But Noni is not just a fair-weather friend. If their day ever turns wet and gray, well, Noni has tales to liven up the day. She almost never frets or even has a fright...

BUT ONE IN A WHILE, SHE GETS SPOOKED IN THE
NIGHT!”

Well, who doesn’t? But when Noni snuggles up with her friends, what can go wrong?

THEN NONI THE PONY SLEEPS ALL NIGHT LONG.

Noted for her realistic illustrations of horses in Running with the Horses and Quicksand Pony, the admittedly Horse Crazy author-illustrator Alison Lester turns her talents this time to the youngest of horse fanciers in her newest, Noni the Pony (Beach Lane Books, 2012). Here Lester’s simple rhyming verse trots along on the page with as much zest as her subject, and her stylized drawings of this dappled equine move with an easy gait to tell the story of this pony’s playful day. Lester’s big-eyed pinto is sweet and perky as a pony should be, and the artist alternates a bright white background with varied full-color bleeds so that each page appears fresh and full of fun. Noni is a pony that every little horse lover can keep (with no stalls to sweep!).

Say What? Baby Says "Moo" by Jo Ann Walker

BABY TAKES A RIDE THROUGH THE DIZZY BUSY CITY.
WAVES AT A YELLOW BIRD, SINGING PRETTY.

"BABY, WHAT DO BIRDS SAY?
BABY SAYS, "MOO!"

Diligent parents, obviously English majors, make a day of it, introducing Baby to a number of new experiences and especially new words. At the grocery store friendly customers wave at Baby and coo "Hel-lo!" Birds tweet, a cat obligingly says "Me-ow!" Eagerly, the parents prompt Baby to repeat the proper sounds. Baby has one answer, and it's not the right one. Their language lesson seems to be going nowhere! When a horse responds appropriately to his wave right on cue, Baby comes right back with the wrong answer again: "Moo!"

"HORSES SAY MOO? I HAVE TO SAY,
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A HORSE SAYS 'NEIGH!'"

Frazzled, the frustrated parents repeat all the right answers--people say "hello," dogs say "Ruff!," cats say "meow!"--and Baby just smiles. "Moo!" is her answer, and she's sticking to it!

At last the thwarted Mom and Dad head the car for home. But what is that critter they see in the field right beside the road? At last it's their chance for this kid to get at least one answer right.

A COW, A COW, WITH SPOTS ON ITS BACK!

WHAT DOES BABY SAY? NOT ONE PEEP.
TUCKERED OUT, BABY IS FAST ASLEEP.

Joann Walker's just published, Baby Says "Moo!" (Hyperion, 2011) is an early education cliffhanger. Will Baby wake just in time to say her line at the right time? With bouncy, Dr. Seuss-like rhyming couplets, Walker's little language lesson will give knowing preschoolers a chuckle as Baby fluffs her lines over and over, almost right down to the final word of this charming little book, and they will be all too happy to chime in on that word as Baby arouses at last to make her parents very happy. David Walker's illustrations, done up in a retro pastel commercial style, are conventionally cute, but don't really do justice to the tongue-in-cheek dramatic tension and potential irony of this well-crafted little language lesson.