ALL KIDS ARE GOOD KIDS

With skin tones ranging from deep brown to paper white, a diverse group of children represents a wide range of temperaments, interests, and characteristics.

The text follows a repeated rhyming pattern for each line: “Calm kids, mad kids / Hugs from mom or dad kids.” Each couplet spans a double-page spread that’s illustrated with a full-bleed illustration or is made up of a collection of smaller panels. Children enjoy outdoor adventures, art activities, and building pillow forts in the scenes. While there doesn’t appear to be a narrative thread that binds these episodes together and there is a new batch of kids with each page turn, Hammer’s two-dimensional cartoons populated with stocky, round figures in medium hues are gleefully toddler friendly. The project ends with the query: “What kind of kid are you?”—and the group of five tykes depicted looks invitingly and cheekily at readers for a reply.

A playful celebration of childhood.