Who Needs a Hug?

Today I visited one of my local bookstores to place an order.  I was ordering books for GAB, Girls and Books, the all-girl book club I run at school.  I decided to skip Amazon and give some business to a bookstore I love so much.  While I was there, I decided to peruse the children's book section.  I mean, why not, right?  And while I was there a book jumped out at me.  Not literally, of course, but it was a book I had not seen before.  Hugs from Pearl by Paul Schmid.  Sometimes, a book just wants to be read.  This book, it wanted me to read it.

In Hugs from Pearl we start off by reading that Pearl LOVES to hug.  But hugs aren't so great from porcupines.  And guess what Pearl is?  That's right, a porcupine.  Her adoring classmates love her hugs so they brave the acupuncture while the teacher keeps a supply of band aids in the classroom.  But Pearl doesn't want to hurt her friends so she tries and tries to find a way to make her hugs more huggable.

After reading this delightful little book I noticed another book about hugs on the very next shelf! The book was Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland.  In this book, Bear is also a hugger. He hugs everyone and everything. He even hugs animals that bears usually eat!  Most of all Bear likes to hug trees.  He spends his days wandering around the forest hugging trees.  Then, he sees a man with an ax enter the forest.  The man looks at all the trees so Bear assumes that the man must love trees too.  (We all know about assuming...)  When Bear sees the man start to chop down a tree he does something he has never done...he growls! He is ready to attack but then realizes this is not like him.  The solution?  Hug it out!  He gives that man a big ol' Bear hug and it scares the jeepers out of the man so that he runs away.


These two books highlight the power of hugs.  They were also perfectly timed because I had a good friend today who needed a hug and I was too far away to give her one.  In fact, I know a few people who could probably use some hugs this week.  Cheers to the huggers!  XOXOXO