My favorite boardbook (boardbooks are books printed on thick paperboard meant for toddlers), by far, is "Hug Time" by Patrick McDonnell - the comic artist who created Mutts - which appears in most newspapers. I've read a lot of children's books since Lake was born, and it is rare to find a combination of amazing art work AND well written, rhyming prose. Some books can manage one of the two, but when both elements are diffused into the same book - it is really magical. The book begins with Jules: At first, his owner, Doozy, was skeptical and asks: "hug the whole world? will that make it better? As Jules nodded yes, Doozy helped with his sweater". Then Jules moves onto logistics: At first, he started small, giving hugs to his closest friends: But he follows that up with a visit to the park, i.e. a butterfly - buttercups, a little gray squirrel, and then begins a trip around the world, inclu...
