Hug
Name of Book: Hug
Author: Jez Alborough
Illustrator: Jez Alborough
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Audience: Ages 2 – 6
Summary: The story of a young chimpanzee who is playing in the jungle and sees a mother and baby elephant hugging, only to realize that he does not know where his mother is to give him a hug. The baby chimpanzee wanders through the jungle to find his mother, with the help of his new elephant friends. Each time he sees others hugging, he becomes more upset until finally he is reunited with his mother.
Literary elements at work in the story: This is a picture book that takes place in the jungle. The characters are various jungle animals, each with one parent and one child. The story is told through the first person point of view of the baby chimpanzee.
How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? Because this is a fictional book about animals, there are no assumptions about gender, race, culture, economic and ability perspectives. The characters are portrayed as gender-neutral. It is obvious, however, that there is an adult and a baby of each type of animal portrayed.
Scripture: Matthew 28:20b
Theology: God has promised to never leave us, even when we feel alone. We are God’s children, and therefore God will always be with us in life. Even when we feel like we have lost our parents, through God’s providential care, God provides us with others to step in and care for us physically so that we can always feel the love and presence of God that is promised us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Faith Talk Questions:
- Why was the baby sad?
- Who did the baby want to get a hug from?
- Have you ever been upset like the baby was when you can’t find one of your parents?
- Did the baby find someone that helped take care of him while he looked for his mommy?
- Did the baby feel safe when around that caregiver?
- Do you have someone you can trust to take care of you even when mommy is not around?
- Can God take care of us even when we feel alone? How?
Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Mason Todd
Hug by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
