Kitty's Cuddles by Jane Cabrera (2007)

    Kitty lists many kinds of animals and their "types" of cuddles (mouse's teeny-weeny cuddle, frog's squidgy, quidgy cuddle, octopus' snug, squeezy cuddle, etc.), but says her/his favorite cuddle is the softest, warmest cuddle from his/her new baby brother.

    I used this with both Tiny Tots and Toddlers and had the kids and parents give each other different types of cuddles - gentle, tickly, big, full-body, jump-over-and-give-your-grownup-a-cuddle, etc., which is excellent for Print Motivation.  The text includes some Vocabulary opportunities since some animals featured might be new to children, including peacocks and armadillos, and the descriptions of cuddles are chock-full of Phonological Awareness.  For my groups, I told the adults, "opportunities for kids to hear interesting combinations of sounds, even nonsense sounds like squidgy quidgy, exposes them to more letter combinations and makes it easier for their brain to make the connections when they are learning how to talk, and later to read and write!"  (great for Tiny Tots and Toddlers, and might even work for Babies)

-  courtesy of Natasha Forrester