Hugs and Popsicles

Quality time with my 2yo who loves to read. Several stories. Some longer than others. Many are shortcut.

I liked the idea of reading imaginative poems to my little girl, and so picked up this book. Unfortunately, it was not very professionally done. The poetry is poorly written, with rhythm and rhyme scheme constantly fluctuating even over the course of one short poem and awkward, artificial phrasing used in places to ensure some sort of rhythm. The text also needs proofread; I saw several typos. Finally, I was not crazy about the poems that described children refusing to eat food just because their uncle said it was icky or throwing a sibling's things out the window because they were annoyed at said sibling. This is not behavior that I want my daughter's reading material to model for her. Not to mention the title poem, which says we can cure anything with hugs and Popsicles--would that it were true, but it isn't, and I find the endorsement of the idea that it is true problematic on a number of levels. (Not the least of which is that her father has a chronic illness and I don't want her to think that her hugs are somehow not good enough or something when they don't magically cure him.)

Good concept, and I did like a lot of the ideas behind the poems even if I was uneasy with a couple of them... But it really needed an editor or three before being published. I can't recommend it in its current state.

I loved the story. I read it over and over and laugh!!!
My favorite poem in this book is Danger