Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond

Big Hugs, Little Hugs Reviews

• 
  Tina Haigler

  This is a feel good book for beginning readers. It has a few simple words on each page--mostly opposites--and plenty of pictures of animals. Also the artwork is cute, colorful, and full of cuddles--the three C's--giving it a heartwarming vibe. While I don't think older kids would enjoy this much, I do recommend it for kids up to 8 years old.
• 
  Arminzerella

  Ok, I realize this is a book that's meant to reassure children and they're likely to experience it from the arms or lap of a loved/loving caregiver - WARM FUZZIES. But really? Not all of these animals/creatures/things hug. If you find spiders hugging, chances are one is about to bite the head off the other (probably not the message you want to send). And penguins don't really hug so much as they huddle...together for warmth. This just seems thrown together. The illustrations, the wording, the choices of creatures for inclusion all seem to indicate that it was rushed and not at all well thought out. I do like the picture of the octopus hugging its offspring (or, possibly, squeezing the life out of them) splashed across the title page. Boa constrictors like to "hug," too. Maybe for the next book? This could, after all, be a disturbing new series.
• 
  Lady Susan

  Another favorite of my sons. The pages are filled with different animals giving hugs with one sentence lines explaining the type of hugs: little hugs, big hugs, cats hugs, dogs hug, etc. The pictures are bright and colorful and are a combination of paper collage and illustrations. And the best part, you can hug your child as you read the book.
• 
  Barbara

  Although I'm sure this book will have plenty of admirers and I appreciate the author's emphasis that all creatures around the world hug, the text is too simple and repetitive for my tastes. It's good to be reminded that hugs can be given inside and outside, upstairs or downstairs, but there just wasn't anything in particular that made this one stand out for me. Even the collage illustrations seemed a bit drab and lacking in interest for me. While all the animals that have been featured throughout the book show up together on the last two pages, they are too small on those pages to catch the eye. Fans of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie are likely to like this one too although it doesn't stand up to that one's long-lived appeal.
• 
  Dolly

  I discovered this book while shopping for presents for our girls during a business trip. We have read many of the books in the
  If You Give... series that
  Felicia Bond illustrated, and her drawings are always so adorable and recognizable.
  
  I loved the mixed media designs in this book; they certainly add a layer of creativity I have not seen before in her books. And the narrative is short and sweet, making this book a perfect story for toddlers. I did not purchase this book for our girls (and I won't likely read it with them, as they are getting 'too old' for books like this), but I thought it was nice.
• 
  Marisa

  Amazon level: 3 - 7 years
  Novelist level: Pre-Kindergarten - 1
• 
  Alana

  While it's got a bunch of opposites, the book is just weird. When is the last time you saw spiders or elephants hugging? Or robots? Just felt off to me.
• 
  Anna

  It's a cute book. Great for toddlers! All about different kinds of hugs from all various animals.
• 
  Thomas Bell

  Slightly inaccurate, but still cute. :-)
• 
  skcocnaH

  The 4 stars are mostly for the unique illustrations l, which I LOVED! The story was a solid meh for me.
• 
  Miss Janis the Storytime Lady

  n/a. 10/11/16 Tue 02/09/21 Video
• 
  Terresa Wellborn

  Sweet story with very simple text, suitable for littles.
  
  Themes: hugs, animals
  Ages: toddler-PreK
  Pub year: 2012
• 
  Brooklyne Swarts

  I found this book illustrations and message to be very sweet. Showing that everyone everywhere hugs is such a cute message. Younger children would greatly enjoy this book.
• 
  Casandria

  Everyone hugs, all around the world.
  Hugs
  Love
  Valentine's Day
• 
  Asho

  This book is kind of strange. My 3-year-old son picked it out at the library, but then didn't request that I read it at home (maybe he has read it with my husband on the nights he handles bedtime, I'm not entirely sure). Anyway, I read it to my 7-month-old tonight and my first thought was "Not all of these animal actually hug." And then I thought that some of the opposites being illustrated by the book were random, and the illustrations didn't always gel very well with the text (not sure how the "future" picture in the past/future set depicted the future in any way, for instance).
  That said, the illustrations in and of themselves are cute. Who doesn't appreciate pictures of cartoon animals hugging? I just wish there was a better story to go along with them.
• 
  R.

  This is a very simplistic book that is all about hugs. My daughter likely picked it off the shelf because of the cats ("meows") on the cover. It is good in the sense that it is very easy to use it not just for the simple story, but you can also use the pictures to illustrate the words along with mixing in the animals names and sounds if you want to expand on each page. Mercy will turn a page and point at the animal for each name/sound after we've read the page and refuse to turn it again until she's satisfied. I imagine this will be one of the easier books for her to learn to read herself earlier on simply because of how simple it is.
• 
  Melissa

  It's fun seeing Felicia Bond do something a little different with her art, though her animals are still immediately recognizable as Bond animals! A few of the pages I was simply charmed by...the monkeys, the small yellow birds, and the elephants. And is that a shout-out to Blackboard Bear? I like that on the last page, the animals are in different poses than when we first encounter them. Detail-oriented kids will enjoy looking at each pair here! Simple text, just a list of types of and places for hugs. A new book for the Valentine storytime lists.
• 
  Treasure

  Fans of the "If You Give a Mouse…" books will instantly recognize Bond's sweet illustrations in this picture book as well. The collage illustrations feature animals hugging and the text per page is minimal, such as "Hippos hug"or "In winter". Ideal for teaching opposites and basic concepts (little, big, etc.), this book is a very sweet, simple, and appealing, as it teaches readers that "Everyone hugs all over the world". Not the most earth shattering of picture books, but still nice.
  (Puget Sound Council review)
• 
  Michael

  I thought it was warm and cozy... just like an humongous hug. Overall, I'd give it a little hug. My son would probably give it a big hug since he's a huge animal fan. He thought I missed reading some parts when the author didn't follow the animal kingdom naming pattern. Needless to say he likes to hear the titles of the mammals. And if Felicia didn't mention the vertebrates he wanted me to tell him, even though he knows perfectly well what they're called.
• 
  Ina

  This is a glorious celebration of the joy of hugging. With bold, bright illustrations and simple text we see that "everyone hugs all over the world." Monkeys in a rainforest, Hippos, dogs and cats, even turtles and bats. In illustrating the ubiquity of hugs, this book is also a charming way to introduce the concept of opposites since there are big hugs and little hugs, hugs inside and outside and day hugs and night hugs. Great story time read, especially for very young audiences.
• 
  Jocelin

  Cute little book about hugs. Another sweet story from the author "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie". Not as fun as the "if you give a" series, but still cute. Quick read, will be finished in 5 mins. barring if you don't have any interruptions from the little ones asking for hugs. I don't know if cats really hug. ;)
• 
  Great Books

  Lots of white space emphasizes the delight shown in the large pictures of joyful animals hugging each other. Illustration medium varies in this cheerful pean that celebrates the warmth of a hug. Reviwer 4.
• 
  Mary

  No great new ground broken here - animals of all kinds like to hug - but I really liked the illustrations, which were cut out drawings on interesting bits of paper. It's a style I had not seen Felicia Bond use before.
• 
  Jodie

  Simple text about different animals and hugs. Pictures are unique and fun. They appear to be textured paper cut out and glued on a painted page. Could tie in with an art project or use to talk about texture.