The Catalogue of Hugs

by Joshua David Stein, Augustus Heeren Stein, Elizabeth Lilly (Illustrator)

Overview

Author and dad-fluencer Joshua David Stein offers up an array of parent-and-child hugs, from the classic to the humorously questionable, each one cleverly titled and informatively illustrated.


For affectionate families everywhere comes this engaging reference volume featuring 25 kinds of hugs. From the more traditional to the all-out risky, this collection runs a creatively wide gamut of ways to embrace...and by doing so, brings comfort to the forefront of conversation. Every hug was field-tested by the author and his sons, and titled for practicality and kicks. The Quentin Blake-esque drawings are rendered with graceful accuracy and joy by artist Elizabeth Lilly. The pure physicality of being a child – or being a parent – is documented with wit and style for both to enjoy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593521793
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Joshua David Stein is a Brooklyn-based author, journalist, and performer. He’s the editor-at-large at Fatherly and the host of The Fatherly Podcast, and an author of children’s books such as The Invisible Alphabet, Can I Eat That?, and Brick: Who Found Herself in Architecture, and adult books such as Cooking for Your Kids and To Me, He Was Just Dad. He was once the restaurant critic for the New York Observer and a food columnist for The Village Voice. Joshua is a founding member of the Band Books, an improvisational music group that performs children’s book sing-alouds. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his two sons and his one dog. www.joshuadavidstein.com.

Augustus Heeren Stein is in the fifth grade. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. This is his first book.


Elizabeth Lilly is a children's book author and illustrator, animated filmmaker, and art educator. She has written and illustrated the picture books GERALDINE (Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan, 2018) and LET ME FIX YOU A PLATE (Holiday House, 2021). Elizabeth was raised in a mixed family, with a Colombian mom and American dad. She and her three sisters grew up speaking two languages and living in two worlds. She writes and draws about the places she has lived, and the places that live in her. Elizabeth writes and directs her own animated films, and teaches drawing and illustration as an adjunct professor at Towson University. She lives in a little old house in the little old city of Baltimore, Maryland, with her fluffy white dog, Ponyo. https://www.elizabeth-lilly.com/.

Editorial Reviews

11/07/2022

The father and son authors of this picture book survey hug types gentle, rambunctious, and in-between, humorously detailing variations of the embrace for an array of situations. In each spread, the name of a particular hug style appears alongside one of Lilly’s wispy, sketch-lined images of adults and children demonstrating the interaction. Using ample white space, blocks of color pop in the depictions of people with a range of abilities and skin tones wearing brightly accented clothing or accessories. Hug type “the Frontpack” accompanies an image of an adult who uses a prosthetic leg holding a child to their front; “the Flying Squirrel” envisages a collision about to occur; and “the Necklace” attends an image of a child hanging from an adult’s neck. A final spread invites readers to experiment with a bonus list of hug styles, including “the Hot Cocoa,” “the Tuba” and “the Puppy Hug.” Ages 2–5. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

BEST BOOK OF 2022 - Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College

"Perhaps even more important in a world reeling from a pandemic, this is a not-to-miss addition for all collections." — School Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

"This sweet taxonomy of affection and acrobatics is co-authored by a father and son and will likely get the kids in your life drawing close for snuggles of their own." — NPR (Books We Love List, 2022)

"Make room on the shelf for this book that captures the creativity and universality of love." — Kirkus

"The father and son authors of this picture book survey hug types gentle, rambunctious, and in-between, humorously detailing variations of the embrace for an array of situations." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2022

PreS-Gr 2—Who needs a hug? Everyone does, as this brief but delightful book explains. People of every skin tone, body size, age, and physical ability are shown embracing in all the variations that seem humanly possible, only the authors give outrageously funny names to these positions. The "koala" shows the child hanging on an adult's leg; the "flying squirrel" is executed by leaping from a bed. A child with arms wrapped around a grandpa's neck demonstrates the "necklace," while another perched on the arm of a parent's wheelchair shows us the "rolling hug." "Classic," "frontpack," "backpack," and "blindfold," are among the many variations, along with the "tantrum" hug and the "work at home" hug. At the end, there's even a compilation of additional positions for those wishing to experiment with showing affection in new ways. Colorful artwork conveys energy and joy in this very clever concept book. VERDICT Perhaps even more important in a world reeling from a pandemic, this is a not-to-miss addition for all collections.—Gloria Koster

School Library Journal

2022-09-28
Spreading the love, one hug and one family at a time.

Joshua David Stein and his son Augustus, a fifth grader, compile an assortment of hug types. Each spread lists the name of a hug and includes a simple yet joyous, loose-lined illustration. There’s the Sloth (a brown-skinned child treats a brown-skinned adult like a jungle gym, wrapping their limbs around the adult’s arm) and the Tantrum (a bawling, tan-skinned child clutching a tan-skinned adult’s ankles). Readers might know the Backpack as a piggyback ride. There are more than 20 hugs here, but those still eager for more ways to express their affection will appreciate the final page, which suggests the names of 22 more to try. The book is inclusive in its depictions of family, making this a wonderful baby shower or adoption celebration present. One grown-up wears a hijab. A pair of White-presenting older adults are seen with a child—perhaps grandparents raising a little one. A White-presenting adult gives a nighttime hug to a child with dark brown skin and hair, and a later image shows the two as part of a multiracial family. With the Rolling Hug, a White-presenting adult using a motorized wheelchair gives a ride and hug to a child. Readers will definitely be feeling the love by the end of this warm and reassuring testament to hugs. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Make room on the shelf for this book that captures the creativity and universality of love. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews