Mama Hug
by Emma Straub; illus. by Stevie Lewis
Preschool    Rocky Pond/Penguin    40 pp.
1/25    9780593618592    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593618608    $10.99

Snuggle up with this cheerful day-in-the-life depiction of a mother and her baby. Mama is clad in overalls, ready for an active just-the-two-of-us day with her child. Simple phrases, all containing the word mama, grace almost every page, and rhyming lines create a rhythmic cadence. Affection permeates the scenes as baby first awakens (“Mama cuddle / Mama swing // Mama dance / Mama sing”), then plays inside and out all day (“Mama horse / Mama hug // Mama chair / Mama tug”) before settling down at night with a bath and a book (“Mama pillow on a Mama bed // Mama dreams in baby’s head”). Straub’s verse focuses on toddler-friendly activities such as playing peek-a-boo, naming body parts, walking and climbing, laughing, and eating; through it all, “Mama love grows and grows.” The mainly warm color palette in Lewis’s digital art reflects the tenderness shared between these two throughout the day, while a cool palette accompanies bedtime calmness. An ideal read-aloud (à la Raschka’s Mama Baby, rev. 3/20) for mama-obsessed toddlers.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.