I Need a Hug (Review #2), written by Aaron Blabey, reviewed by Klaudia Janek

Student Reviewer: Amy T.
Summary: In this picture book, the main character asks all of its animal friends for a hug. However, because the main character is a porcupine with sharp spikes, all of its friends all run away in fear, and the porcupine has no one to cuddle with. But later, when the porcupine’s friends are all running away from someone equally scary, a snake who wants a kiss, the porcupine and snake become true friends and cuddle together. This ending gives a sweet tone of acceptance and reconciliation and neatly wraps up the story.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This story is a warm classroom read, as it is filled with eye-catching font and aesthetic illustrations. Blabey cleverly color codes the color of the pages with each type of animal, which triggers a visual change when the porcupine encounters another animal. This helps emerging readers coordinate comprehension of the plot with a visual change. This is a great read for emerging readers because the vocabulary is simple and the moral is easy to understand. In terms of the message, the picture book conveys the theme that one should find friends that are the right fit for them. The porcupine is representative of someone who has distinctive traits and does not fit the social norm, leading the porcupine to be rejected by its other animal friends and leaving it alone with no one to hug. After the porcupine meets another animal who is also unaccepted by society, the porcupine finally finds an animal who is accepting of the porcupine’s traits, and the porcupine complements this relationship by being accepting of the distinctive traits of its friend. In this story, the porcupine finds a friend who is the “right fit” for them and is not afraid of its spikes. Overall, this short story teaches a great lesson in a classroom setting, where there may be young children who struggle socially with finding friends who they accept and who are accepting of them. This story will lead them to understand that it is only a matter of time where they will find their own right fit.