Daniel Baxter

“Mama’s Kiss” is about how love can be transferred from one person to another. This book would be great to show children how emotions can rub off on others. I could also see this book being used for story time or bed time. The illustrations are all very animated, I thought they were simple enough to show how kindness is tender. I have always heard that a smile is contagious, and Yolen shows just that in her picture book.

A little girl is about to go to bed,and her mother is blows kisses. One kiss misses her cheek and goes to her baby brother, to outdoors, different animals, her father, and back to her. It uses rhyming words, and some of the sentences are grouped in couplets. My favorite line is at the end. Yolen writes, " A kiss can go the world around, and come back where it should be found". I found this to be so sweet, touching, and true. It brought back memories when my parents used to kiss me good show more night. I think reading this book would be a great way to show kids how to write couplets or rhyming words. It is an easy read, and the class can sound out the word pattern and number of syllables. Clapping and reading the story slowly can help the children a lot with this activity. I have seen a teacher do it in a second grade class, and the children really enjoyed it and seemed the grasp the material quick. show less

I really enjoyed this particular book. Love (represented by kisses) is paid forward and returned to the original sender. It shows how powerful small acts of love (kisses) can make such a difference in the lives of all of us!
Mommy's kisses start with her children, then to the pets, then to the woodland creatures, finding its' way to her husband that brings her love (her kisses) back home to be lovingly returned to her :-) !!!

Jane Yolen uses a series of rhymes to express a mother's love for her daughter and how love is everywhere. The mother sends a series of kisses to her daughter while one manages to get away. The kiss then goes on a journey to the mother's young son, the family dog, a cat, a bee's honey lair, a bear, his missus, and their baby cub, and even back to her own family. Yolen uses rhyming and and common analogies to teach a lesson about love. Love is everywhere and it always finds its' way back home.