HUGGY THE PYTHON HUGS TOO HARD

Readers teach Huggy the Python how to be gentle.

True to his name, this green, top-hat–wearing, scarf-sporting snake “LOVES to hug the things he loves.” However, disaster ensues when he hugs a balloon and then an oversized bowl of ice cream. “OOPS! You hugged too hard, Huggy.” The unseen narrator stops the action before Huggy can do any damage to a “fuzzy little dog.” Readers are instructed to give the impossibly cute, huge-eyed little pooch a model, “GENTLE” hug, and the dog’s happy dance combines with exuberant confetti to underscore that it “was a GREAT gentle hug!” Huggy learns by this example and follows suit (though his enthusiastic, simultaneous embrace of a tube of toothpaste makes it clear just what the self-control costs him). Dyckman’s jaunty, conversational narration and Griffiths’ fluid and charming cartoons in cheery colors against white backgrounds are perfectly matched. Roary the Lion Roars Too Loud publishes simultaneously.

Huggy is an adorable character, no mean feat for a python; here’s hoping more of these tender life lessons in the Wee Beasties series are on the way.