Mama's Kiss
Jane Yolen, Author, Daniel Baxter, Illustrator , illus. by Dani
Although the title suggests sentimentality, that notion disappears with the first look inside this snappy square-format book. Yolen's jaunty rhymes are short and sweet; debut illustrator Baxter's droll, cartoonlike pictures practically jump from page to page. Mama's kiss, shown as a winged pair of lips, is first tossed across the bedroom at her daughter, but misses and “sails off toward Baby Brother. Baby burps, the kiss goes wide,/ Through the window and outside./ Catches Dog upon the nose.” Subsequently traveling through the neighborhood, transferred from creature to creature, including a family of bears, the kiss eventually lands on a runner “jogging home to help his wife,/ The one he's loved for his whole life”—Mama. The traditional poetic meter creates a reassuring effect, and both words and pictures deliver plenty of giggles. Ages 3–6.
Reviewed on: 10/20/2008
Genre: Children's