Hug Time

Patrick McDonnell
Little, Brown Young Readers
ISBN 9780316114943
Reviewed by Conner Aguren (age 3) and Mom for Reader Views (11/07)

“Hug Time” features Jules, an orange-striped kitten from the “Mutts” comic strip written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell.  This is the story of Jules’ adventure around the world to give everyone a hug. He starts with giving his friends hugs; then the animals around his neighborhood, afterwards he travels the oceans, jungles, rain forests, savannahs, and even the poles to give everyone he sees a hug.

Conner was very interested in the picture of the ‘species brand-new.’ He wondered if it was a frog or a lizard.  He didn’t think that Jules could hug a whale.  He was also intrigued by the new animal names listed in the book. He never heard of a ‘wombat,’ ‘humuhumu fish,’ or a ‘petite pudu’ before.  He also never heard of a baobab tree and thought that they looked funny.

Parent comment:

The watercolor illustrations in “Hug Time” are artfully done and are fun to look at with my son. They really capture the essence of a scene with enough detail to keep talking about the picture but still simple and clear for a child to grasp what is happening.

The story rhyme is well-written and flows quite well. While the overall message in the story is promote love, the places and animals visited are from an environmental conservationist point of view. This philosophy may not agree with all readers. 

Make comment on weblog