Books like Can I Give You a Squish?
By Emily Neilson
For the kid who greets everyone with a full-body hug whether they asked for one or not, this is the gentle nudge toward asking first. Warm, sunny, and reassuring, with an undersea coziness.
A big friendly bear heads to the swimming hole and notices someone shy rustling in the trees and scampering through the brush — who could this mysterious new creature be?
A girl balances a basket of seven delicious fruits on her head, walking to surprise her friend Akeyo, while hungry animals secretly help themselves along the way.
As night falls and the woods grow cold, a big bear loses his way on a crooked trail — so his friends take to the sky and ground until they find him and bring him safely home.
A young llama starts his first day of preschool, and once Mama leaves for work, the new teacher, new toys, and roomful of noisy kids feel like too much all at once.
A lonely woman welcomes a traveling salesman's pets into her home one by one, but draws the line firmly at one thing: no elephants, thank you very much.
A girl and her walking house settle into a too-quiet neighborhood, so she puts up a sign inviting lost creatures in — goblins, mermaids, a dragon — and soon has a household that's lively but hard to manage.
A young boy explores a farm, noticing how each animal finds shelter and safety, comparing their hiding places to God's protection — until a rain storm sends him looking for shelter of his own.
A tiny snail longing to see the world hitches a ride on a humpback whale's tail, and together they sail to icebergs and volcanoes — until the whale gets stranded and needs the smallest friend to save her.
At bedtime, a little boy asks his mama again and again — what if he were a smelly skunk, a meat-eating dinosaur, a swamp creature — and she answers every wild what-if with love.
A little girl gives a pig a pancake, and one request leads to another — syrup, then a bubble bath — spinning into a chain of demands that circles right back to where it started.
A cheerful look at children being kind to one another in everyday moments — a friendly hello, a boost onto a bike, a cheer of encouragement — all across a busy neighborhood.
When every girl at the Paris boarding school falls sick on Christmas Eve, the smallest and bravest one stays well enough to take charge — and finds unexpected help from a magical rug-selling merchant.
