Mommy's Best Kisses

by Margaret Anastas

There are many ways to say I love you to a child, and now way is sweeter than with a kiss. Every mother knows small hands, a plump tummy, tiny fingers, and wiggling toes all beg to be kissed time and time again.

Margaret Anastas's loving rhyme and Susan Winter's gentle illustrations of animal mamas and their adorable babies will make this a family favorite.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Family, Love, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Laia · Rating 3 out of 5]

O.K., this is not a book that if I saw on a shelf would draw me to it.

But. In the actual practice and experience of reading this to my child, this was the best one on my shelf of all the "mommy loves you" message books I had been given. I mean, my kid loved all the different types of kisses (on the nose, on the belly button, etc.) I would give them, copying the mommy and baby animals in the story. The text was short, rhyming and soothing. It ends with putting a baby to bed, blowing a kiss as you turn out the light, with the promise of mommy waking the baby in the morning to do it all over again. I can't help but have fond memories of the moments I shared with my child while reading this book. It was better than "I'll love you forever" or "The Kissing Hand" or our book about different types of hugs that was silly, but not something you would actually re-enact with your child. It was better than all the stories that showed loving relationships between parent and child, because this one actually got you & your child being the focus, and interacting with one another on every page.

I am sure there are other similar ones out there. In fact, I just gave my sister a couple board books that featured animals cuddling/hugging/kissing their young, hoping they would provide the same type of experience (I was not able to preview them, just read reviews, so hope they were what I was looking for.) I'm not sure it matters exactly which book you have, as long as you have a book like this that is short, sweet, comforting, and provides a chance to shower your child with physical affection & interaction on every page, like this book does. If others have favorites that do this, I would love to hear about them! Please comment below!

[Felicia Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

read it to baby Elizabeth cute book :D

[Jagoda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter is obsessed with this book, and was even before I had the chance to read it to her. We received it as a gift and when she found it in her book pile she would, multiple times a day, bring it to me and request that I read it to her. It is now missing half the spine since she constantly plays with it. I’d say it’s her favourite in her whole collection. The illustrations are simple and the story is cute.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this during my toddler storytime. The moms kissed their little ones along with the narration of the book and it was so sweet and perfect. The kids had been running around all over the place before that but they sat still and paid attention to the book as their moms kissed and snuggled them. One of the moms asked for a copy of the book when storytime was over.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down, our favorite nighttime book. Fast read, gorgeous illustrations, and Byron loves all the big pictures of different animals saying good night to their baby animal. This was a good purchase on mamas part. ;)

[Mama Bearian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animal mommies (and a human) give their babies kisses as they tuck them in at night. It's a cute book for a mom to read to her baby or toddler at night, but probably wouldn't be of much interest to older children.

[Leah Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book. Currently read to my baby before bedtime. We have a snuggly time. The animal drawings inside are very sweet/cute.

I personally don't find the cover eye catching or as cute as the inside.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sneaks in counting, which is awesome

[Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Janna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best if you kiss while you read.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for books for a baby gift.
Cute rhymes, beautifully illustrated.

[Lil Old Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite for my daughter and me. Such a sweet book, and who doesn't love an excuse to give sweet kisses to your little one as you read?

[Christina Crosland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! We have the board book version. I love it because it can be very interactive with your child, as you give kisses on every page. Such a sweet reading experience

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute bedtime story. Lots of mother animals give kisses to their babies animals. Beautiful illustrations. A wonderful book for babies and toddlers.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites for baby storytime, but a solid second tier choice. The text is pretty good; it's a rhyming list of all the different and fun places to kiss a baby and it lends itself well to interaction (One of my main criteria for a good baby storytime book). There's nothing particularly special about the word choice, but the scansion and rhyme scheme aren't at all forced which is a feat unto itself and harder to do than it might seem. The illustrations are where this falls apart a little for me. Susan Winter illustrates using what look like colored pencil and watercolors to me. Her animals are better than her people and make up the majority of the book, but unfortunately the cover is just people. The animals still look somewhat awkward, I think because animals don't naturally kiss each other the way humans do and thus the poses they're in aren't natural. Also the mother/baby characters don't seem to actually touch in the illustrations, they just overlap at the appropriate location. The illustrations are all full-bleed, double-page spreads with soft lines and muted colors. The baby polar bear is particularly cute. Even with these caveats, I would use this for baby storytime again since I struggle to find titles I feel are appropriate for the babies in a group.

Used for Baby Storytime 2/3/2012.

[Sabrina Parsons]

This book is a super sweet bed time story about the love between mother and child and the bond is displayed before bed.It shows different animals getting ready for bed and all are mother and child. It goes from giraffe to polar bear to hippo to people. At the end of the book the reader realizes that the book that we are reading is the book that the human mother is reading to her child.

The text in this book is calming and interesting, but doesn't give away all the details of the story. Each page is different and but the text always starts with the same thing "I kiss ..." The text doesn't start to change until the last two pages where the human mother is speaking to her child. This is where the reader gets more information on a good night routine and then ends with the mother waking the child in the morning saying her kisses will come again.

The book illustrations many different animals receiving kisses from their mother and no page is alike, except the fact that it is always a mother and child. The illustrator drew all the pictures in the book with colored pencils. The colors used are subtle and calming making it relaxing, but still enjoyable to read. The pictures don't take place in the dark making the images lively but there wasn't a great use of bright colors which still kept up the resting and relaxing theme.

[Courtney K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one we read often. Mother animals kiss their baby's body parts--head, toes, nose. I kiss Bobo in the same fashion ending with "I kiss your dear face and I whisper good night, I blow one last kiss while I turn out the light." Beautiful illustrations and fabulous for soothing your child into sleep.

[Ariel Cummins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rhyming list of all the places to kiss baby as he's going to sleep, with animal illustrations to match.

Sweet colored pencil drawings are nice, but nothing outstanding.

An okay book for bedtime, but I preferA Kiss Like This if we're talking about animal kisses!

[Vanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son just "found" this book on his bookshelf (I'd sort of forgotten about it too) and now he loves for me to read it before bed time. He hands me or points to the appropriate body part that is supposed to be kissed. It's a nice bedtime book.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the SWEETEST book ever. I think I will read it to my kids for bedtime as long as they are little. The pictures are so cute as well! I almost cried while reading it, just because it reminded me of how much I love my baby!

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh what an adorable book...illustrated so sweetly and delicately. Each animal mommy reassuringly kisses a different part of their baby goodnight, ending with the mother and child reading a book together before bedtime.

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like this type of book for our Book Babies storytimes. Throughout most of the book, the rhyming seemed to scan pretty well, but the hippo page didn't quite work. In rhyming texts, this is pretty important to me. Still, I may give it a go, and see how my families like it.

[Trudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is adorable. The different animals get different kisses from their mommy's...either on their cheek, fingers, toes, belly, nose. The story rhymes and you can kiss your child as you read it...love it!

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of nice illustrations of animals.

[Pearl Tuell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. I read it to my oldest son every night for a year!!!

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book chosen by my daughter.

[Valori Shellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the animals. Fun to kiss you little one while you are reading. I love interactive books!

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun little story to follow along and kiss your child as the animals kiss their babies.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet book made all the sweeter for the many opportunities to give kisses as you read.

[Sarah Stumphf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Kissiing baby while you read them this book!