"I kiss your small hands / as you reach for my face. / I kiss your sweet neck-- / it's my favorite place." Animal mothers--a chipmunk, giraffe, kangaroo, and so on-- tenderly kiss their young. At the end, a human mother is shown kissing her child good-night. The rhyming text and the accomplished but oversweet illustrations of animal pairs will mainly appeal to adult fans of the how-much-I-love-you genre.

<p>Pink knees, soft necks, and round tummies beg to be kissed again and again in this sweet rhyming celebration of the love of mothers for their babies. Readying their little ones for bedtime, a menagerie of animals goes through the ritual kissing of each of their baby's parts. A chipmunk kisses small hands; a giraffe bends to kiss a long neck; a chimpanzee reaches in to kiss strong arms as they dangle from a branch. A pig, a polar bear, an elephant, and many more soothe, tickle, and love their babies with soft kisses on all the kissable spots. Finally a young child, human this time, curls in his mother's lap as she reads to him: "I kiss your dear face / and I whisper good night. / I blow one last kiss / while I turn out the light." Snuggling into sleep, all of the babies are reminded that tomorrow the kissing will begin again. Winter's (Always Copy Cub, 2002, etc.) gentle illustrations rendered in soft washes of color offer a dreamy depiction of the mothers of all shapes and sizes. A wonderful anytime choice for encouraging head-to-toe kisses. (Picture book. 3-6)</p>

Mommy's Best Kisses by Margaret Anastas, illus. by Susan Winter, also explores parent-child affection through animal portraits: """"I kiss your small hands as you reach for my face"""" shows a mother chipmunk and child, """"I kiss your five fingers that squeeze mine so tight"""" depicts a mother kangaroo with her joey. The closing spreads feature a human mother and child, and include a spread of the sleeping child surrounded by all of the animals mentioned previously.

PreS-"I kiss your small hands/as you reach for my face,/I kiss your sweet neck-/it's my favorite place." So starts this lovely book as soft, gentle, meticulous illustrations in pastel corals, blues, and tans depict animal mothers tenderly kissing their babies. The last pictures are of a human mother and her toddler reading a book and saying good night with a kiss. The text is rhythmic and beautifully descriptive, listing places to be kissed that can apply to human as well as animal babies. Winter's art is reminiscent of Susan Jeffers's work and, with the poetic text, makes a special bedtime book for one-on-one sharing.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.