Octopus Hug - Softcover

Laurence Pringle has written more than sixty highly acclaimed books for children, mostly books about nature and the environment. He lives in West Nyack, New York.

Kate Salley Palmer is a children's author and illustrator as well as a political cartoonist. She lives in Clemson, South Carolina.

PreSchool-Grade 2-A celebration of family roughhousing and imaginative play. Becky and Jesse are left with their father while their mother goes out for the evening. They are out of sorts at first, until Dad demonstrates an octopus hug. This leads to a series of active games, such as "timber," in which the youngsters climb on the man's shoulders and he pretends to be a falling tree (letting them land on soft cushions); "left out toys," in which the siblings pretend to be toys and he carries them into their rooms and drops them on their beds; and "monster," in which he pretends to capture them and they escape. This is the kind of physical fun children delight in, but that might cause cautious adults to shudder. Here, the presentation is positive and young listeners will beg their fathers to play the same games. The illustrations, depicting a burly African-American father and his joyous son and daughter, add to the lively feeling of the text. A good choice for Father's Day story times.
Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
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