The Children’s Book Review | June 21, 2019
What to expect: Finger Puppet Books, Cute Animals, Hugs, Interactive Play/Reading Time
The Hug Me series of books, in particular Little Bunny and Little Bear, from the Chronicle Books series offer a fun, comforting reading time experience for young board book lovers. Each book features plush ‘arms’ that the adult reading the book places their fingers through, animating the main bunny or bear of the book (literally) in hand. This already creates a fun and dynamic atmosphere, and gives adults a chance to improvise and play with their youngster during reading time. This accomplishes fun, of course, but it also gives young readers a sense of the animated adventures that await them as future readers as well: these characters come alive, as will the many characters they encounter throughout their reading lives. In this case, they do it with a little help from the clever finger puppet device.
The stories themselves are comforting and heartwarming and offer a perfect analogue to the finger puppet construction. Great, beautifully designed books whose plush finger-puppet hugging arms offer fun and coziness at bedtime.
Hug Me: Little Bear
By Chronicle Books
In Little Bear the grown up bear (whose arms the adult reader animates) tells their child all the things that grown up arms can do: “My arms take you dancing to our favorite song,” “My arms give you a lift and catch you when you come back down,” My arms cheer you up with a tickle on the belly,” and so on, as the brightly illustrated pages underscore the sentiments nicely. These end with a declaration that, “But best of all, my arms can tell you how much I love you with a HUG.”
Order a Copy Now: Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Ages 0-3 | Publisher: Chronicle Books | February 19, 2019 | ISBN-13: 978-1452175218
Hug Me: Little Bunny
By Chronicle Books
In Little Bunny, it’s much the same, this time with a cutely rendered adult bunny and child: “My arms will greet you every morning,” “I hold your hand as we explore new places,” “When the day is done, my arms carry you home and rock you to sleep.” These adventures end, too, (spoiler alert), with the declaration that, “But best of all, my arms will always tell you how much I love you with a HUG.”
Order a Copy Now: Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Ages 0-3 | Publisher: Chronicle Books | February 19, 2019 | ISBN-13: 978-1452175218
The Hug Me: Finger Puppet Books by Chronicle Books were reviewed by Trevor Jockims. Discover more books like the The Hug Me: Finger Puppet Books by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Bear Books, Board Books, Bunny Books, and Chronicle Books.
