A Hug Is For Holding Me

A Hug Is For Holding Me. Lisa Wheeler. Illustrated by Lisk Feng. 2018. Harry N. Abrams. 24 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Look around and you will see all the things a hug can be!

Premise/plot: You would think this picture book would celebrate two things primarily--HUGS and FAMILIES. And, in a way, I suppose it's true. But it is nature that sneaks in and steals the show.

Cocoons are strong
yet gentle hugs,
and then,
surprisingly...
the air is filled with wonderous wings!
Your hug amazes me.

and

A flower bud
can be a hug.
Come close and
you will see.
Tight petals wrap the bloom inside.
Your hug feels safe to me. 

My thoughts: I don't dislike this one. I just don't love it. I wasn't expecting it to be about nature. Or at least so much about nature. I suppose a better description would be... as a father and daughter share a lovely walk together the little girl reflects on the many things a hug can be.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10


© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers

My Side of the Car

My Side of the Car. Kate Feiffer. Illustrated by Jules Feiffer. 2011. Candlewick. 32 pages.


My dad and I are going to the zoo. We've tried to go to the zoo before. But we never get there.
One day when we were supposed to go to the zoo, my mom tripped over a toy fire engine.
So we went to the hospital instead of the zoo.

Thus begins Kate Feiffer's My Side of the Car. Who could resist Sadie, our narrator?! I mean really! She looks so joyful, so happy, so hopeful, so exuberant. You can almost HEAR her as the story begins. I think it was love at first sight, for me at least. I just HAD to keep reading!

So Sadie, our young narrator, really, really, really, really wants to go to the zoo. Now she's tried to go in the past. Again and again and again. But something has always happened to prevent them from getting there. Be it an unexpected visit from her grandparents or her dog getting lost or her poor mom's accident! This time Sadie just HAS to get to the zoo!

So. It starts to rain. But Sadie insists it's not raining on MY side of the car. Her father keeps talking about the rain, how hard it's coming down, etc. But over and over and over and over again, Sadie's insisting that is just not raining on her side of the car.

"I look out my window, and the sun is shining on my side of the car. People are putting on their sunglasses and heading to zoos all over the world on my side of the car."

and

"It's not raining on my side of the car. People on my side of the car are watering their lawns."

This picture book is funny! I mean I just loved it! Loved, loved, loved it even! It's delightful and charming!!! And it's just a great picture book about a father who loves his daughter very, very much!!!!

While this one would make a great book for Father's Day--in my opinion--it's one that should be read again and again and again any time of year!!! What makes this one even more charming--as if it needed any help--was that it is based on a true story of this father-daughter author/illustrator team!!!

I think this one would pair well with the Knuffle Bunny books by Mo Willems!

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10

© 2011 Becky Laney of Young Readers