THE BOOK OF HUGS

With the help of some monkeys, a teddy bear teaches readers all about hugs.

Teddy Bear Tim (the author’s teddy-bear persona) waves to readers and declares, “I LOVE hugs!” His upbeat narration continues as Teddy Bear Tim meets up with a trio of cuddly monkeys who share the love for hugs—and bananas. The four characters list many different kinds of hugs (like “happy hugs,” “slow hugs,” or “monkey hugs”) before Teddy Bear Tim shares the “three simple steps” to giving a hug. They are: ask first, open arms wide, and wrap the other person in a hug (“tight, but not too tight”). Once the instructions are given, Teddy Bear Tim describes some hugging scenarios and acts them out with the monkeys. From running full-bore into each other’s arms to a 5-second “quick hug,” the hugs all point back to Teddy Bear Tim’s key precept: “The LOVE is the most important part.” Motivational speaker and disability advocate Harris’ debut picture book affirms the joy of hugs while highlighting the importance of consent. Astrella’s expressive cartoon characters and energetic hugging sequences show his animation background. But the constant shifts in perspective from below to above in the first few pages are jarring. Simple white backgrounds allow readers to focus mostly on the text, which varies in complexity from one to five sentences per page. Banana endpapers bookend the story.

Promising content swaddled by iffy presentation.