An adorable little book on hugs and the hijinks of a little girl giving all kinds of animals hugs. I picked this up because of wanting to have knowledge of more diverse children's books on hand for any parents of young children I know who may want some recommendations.

Great story about having boundaries! Such an important topic for kids (and adults). Fun and easy-to-understand storyline for children of all ages.

Being a kindergarten teacher I get lots of hugs, which is great. But some hugs are a little too much. This little girl in the book starts off giving a hug to her cat and all the other animals want hugs too. They seem to have a problem understanding boundaries. This would be a good book to discuss those boundaries.

Sometimes a hug is just what you need. And sometimes.... It's just not!

A book about the joys and the not so joys of hugs. When we don't feel well, we could use a hug. One little girl got all kinds of hugs. From a cat which wasn't to bad to a porcupine. Sometimes hugs can be comforting and sometimes awkward. It's good to talk about those types of hugs and more. A silly look at hugs from all perspectives.

A Special Thank you to Kids Can Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

“The joys and perils of… hugs.” In Hug?, we follow a young girl as she feels for a cat and offers it a hug… only to be constantly asked for more hugs from other animals.

This book is a great introduction or conversation starter on themes surrounding consent and setting personal boundaries. This book can assist and reaffirm children who may have difficulty articulating their discomfort as this book notes the boundaries and reassures that saying ‘no’ is okay.

The illustration is engaging, bright, and so very adorable! I like how the art is simple yet evokes strong emotions as the story progresses. I also love how it depicts the girl slowly becoming more dishevelled and tired after giving endlessly.

The only aspect I wish that could be more specifically addressed was the notion of attaining consent and setting firm boundaries. As the story progressed, the girl became more uncomfortable. Perhaps this could provide an opportunity for the adult to ask the child ‘what do you think and why?’.

This was a great read and I’d recommend this to parents looking for a book to start a discussion on consent and boundaries.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book. The pictures were colorful and interesting. This is a great story for younger kids (Pre-School-1st grade), to talk about empathy and personal space.

I love the art style and colors of this book. I also appreciate the way the simple text conveys the ability to and importance of being able to set boundaries, with a positive ending for everyone involved.

Hug? by Charlene Chua is a sweet picture book that teaches us about compassion, empathy, and boundaries. This story demonstrates (in a fun way) how important hugs are, yet how we can also get overwhelmed with too much physical contact. It's that blurry area where we think hugs are nice, but shouldn't feel obligated to give everyone a hug. The illustrations are great and encourage visual literacy by showing how the girl grows more disheveled and weary with each hug request. I really enjoyed this one!

**Thank you to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I will be honest: I am biased when we talk about hugs. I love greeting people with a giant bear hug myself. Squishy hugs are the best! So it is very intriguing for me to see how we are relaying this message to the kids. The book was a fairly simple depiction of this, but I don't mind it one bit.

I loved especially the unicorn's role in this and the plethora of teaching moments it presents.

The story shows how important hugs can be to our happiness --- even the most unlikely of creatures sometimes need one! --- but that doesn't mean they're always welcome. The book is full of laugh-out-loud moments, most of which are found in illustrations that vividly portray the girl's emotions as she grows more worn out with every encounter, encouraging visual literacy.


This story teaches us compassion ,empathy ,love and having pleasure in small things.


**Thankyou Netgalley and publisher for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review**

What a great preschool book!! It was so fun to read, we especially loved the tiger and his sneaky attempt at eating the cat!

This was a story of a little girl offering a hug to her cat that was sick and not feeling well. Then everyone came and asked her a hug. I do appreciate that the characters were asking for hugs, however I thought the little girl felt that she needed to hug everyone. Then she became exhausted from giving and giving and then she received a hug and it filled a need for her. It has pretty illustrations, but the book was so so for me.

* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Kid Can Press in exchange for an honest review*

What an essential book for children! Great pictures! I liked how the book taught about physical boundaries with touch. So often in our society kids are expected to hug friends and family whether they are comfortable with this or not. This book teaches children that they are in control of who touches them and they are allowed to say no. While I think hugs are one way to make someone feel better, it is not the only way. . I wish that the book would have offered other skills kids could use to feel better.

It was a fun story about hugs in our everyday life. I enjoyed the small narrations and colour illustrations.

A young girl is petting a cat until the cat feels sick. The girl offers a hug to the cat, and other creatures ask for hugs until the situation gets out of control. The illustrations are engaging and offer visual cues as the girl becomes overwhelmed by the demand for hugs. The page with the tiger injected a nice bit of humor into the story. A short and sweet book about boundaries that I would read in a family or preschool storytime.

To hug or not to hug that is the question? A compassionate little girl takes pity on her beloved kitty when it hacks up a hairball. She asks if he would like a hug? He, feeling ill, consents. When she cuddles him in a big hug her dog takes note and asks for a hug too. She readily complies and then along come some ducks, a skunk, a bear, a porcupine, a tiger, a unicorn ( who insists he's good and doesn't need one ), and a dragon, just to name a few, also wanting a hug! Wow! She is turning into a hugging machine. All those hugs leave her drained, exhausted and feeling empty... they just keep on coming.

"I don't feel well." she says.

Her adorable, sweet kitty approaches her and asks: "Do YOU want a hug?"

The book sparks discussions on boundaries, consent, and assuring yourself that it is okay to sometimes say no. It also shows the importance of self-care and looking after your own needs.

The illustrations are so well done and expressive. They enrich the meaning of the story so much. I love the message and how it is implemented. I highly recommend this book.

After offering a hug to her cat, a little girl is overwhelmed by demands for hugs from other creatures, too, until at last she has had enough and says "Stop".

This was a simple book that will enable the opening of conversations about boundaries, consent and the ability to say "No"

* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and Kids Can Press in exchange for my honest review.

As a person who does not really enjoy giving or receiving hugs, I thought this book was on point. The girl offers her cat a hug because it looks like it could use one, she is quickly overwhelmed by requests for hugs from every animal near and far.

This book would make a great addition to any library as it provides the opportunity to start conversations about consent, emotions, and that saying no is okay.

This book is a cute and funny delve into the wonderful world of hugs and how it can sometimes be dangerous. At the beginning of the book, kitty isn’t feeling well and wants a hug. Soon all the other animals want hugs too. At first everything is going pretty well, but when a skunk, porcupine, and bear all want dangerous hugs, it can lead to hug burnout, unless, of course, kitty is the one giving the hugs.

The book is very short, super cute, and would be great for storytime with very young children. They can identify the animals and match some of the sounds they might make. There aren’t too many words, but the pictures are descriptive and encourage sound effects.

This one is out in September, so keep an eye out for it at your local bookstore or library.

It was a cute book but I felt like it was missing something. Maybe adding that it's ok not to give a hug if you don't want to would help. The illustrations were great and the characters were cute.