it's raining cats and dogs and hugs

Homer the Library Cat, by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf

Cats and librarians are about as cliché as they come, however, Libdergh’s story of Homer the Cat who goes in search of silence and sleep was not as bad as I was expecting. Homer gets freaked out one day—the usual silence broken up by a loud noise outside—thus his pilgrimage to find a sanctuary of peace and quiet. Homer’s quest sends him to some rather unlikely venues (a  fire department, a train station, a post office); the end result is a book which begs for kids to react to the story, telling the reader why Homer isn’t going to be able to rest. Also nice is Lindbergh’s shout out to libraries at the end of the story.

Age:  Preschool-First Grade

A Dog is a Dog, written and illustrated by Stephen Shaskan

Let me first say, I LOVED this book—it made me laugh out loud…at my desk…in the library. Is a dog really just a dog? You’ll be asking yourself this as the story includes some funny morphs of the dog into a cat and so on. This book is full of doggone (eh, eh!)  simple rhymes, great illustrations (though both another librarian and I hated the illustration of the fat dog—too creepy) and a plot which moves along and is aided by the funny illustrations of the animals (my favorite pages include a squid). A Dog is a Dog offers silly opposites, i.e. cats can be “hairless and cold” or “wrapped in fur;” laughter ensues. Bottom line: get it! The kids will love it—PROMISE!

Age:  Preschool and up

Big Hugs, Little Hugs, written and illustrated by Felicia Bond

If the name of the author/Illustrator or the illustrations themselves seem familiar, it's probably because you’ve read or at least seen the If you give a ____ series (by Laura Numeroff). Bond's wonderful illustration may look familiar, however, for this book Bond chose to do the illustrations with a series of glorious collages. Big Hugs, Little Hugs shows a menagerie of animals--parents and babies—yep, you guessed it: hugging. Tthis adorable book picture with its beautiful artwork, and simple, sparsely worded story make this the perfect choice for a snuggle-up and read session with your favorite kiddos.

The illustrations are great, the text simple. I am left hoping this book is turned into a board book—it would be great for baby and young toddler story time, especially great if each child had their own copy to look at during storytime. HUGE thumbs up.

Age: Birth-Preschool