How to Send a Hug

Married collaborators the Roccos introduce a young, white-presenting narrator with a long ponytail and chronically untied sneakers, portrayed with a white duck whose moods and movements beguilingly mimic the child’s. “I love hugs,” the protagonist declares, but points out that they’re hard to give to far-off loved ones. It’s possible to talk to Grandma Gertie on the phone or on the computer, for example, but it’s not the same as an embrace. Instead, the child suggests, a hug can be sent. A marker, a sheet of paper, perhaps paints, and a “hug” emerges in letter form. Mixed-media artwork by John Rocco (Hurricane) supplies visual explanations for the extended hug metaphor written in text by debut author Hayley Rocco. To travel, the narrator explains, the hug needs a jacket (an envelope) and a ticket (a stamp). It will be picked up by a Hug Delivery Specialist (a mail carrier) and taken to a building “where all the hugs are sorted” before it arrives to give joy—and perhaps inspire a return “hug.” Building to a group image of variously diverse characters reading letters, it’s a sweet-tempered approach to an everyday show of affection. Ages 4–8. Agent (for author and illustrator): Rob Weisbach, Rob Weisbach Creative. (Nov.)