Animal Kisses

by Barney Saltzberg

In this award-winning board book, kids will adore puckering up to Barney Saltzberg's irresistible menagerie of animals, from scratchy cat kisses to velvety cow kisses.

Do you like scratchy cat kisses? Or do you prefer squeaky pig kisses? How about a velvety cow kiss? This feast for the senses includes fuzzy, sticky, and rubbery touch and feel elements, perfect for babies and toddlers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

14 pages, Board Book

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Barney Saltzberg is the author and illustrator of close to 50 books for children, including Beautiful Oops!, Arlo Needs Glasses, Good Egg, Cornelius P. Mud , Crazy Hair Day and the bestselling Touch and Feel Kisses series with over 800,000 copies in print. He has two new releases, Tea With Grandpa and Chengdu Could Not Would Not Fall Asleep coming this spring.
Additionally, he’s recorded four CDs of music for children. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two dogs.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric loves to kiss all of the animals in this book. And on the last page when it asks "What is your favorite kind of kiss?" He says "All da kisses!" and kisses every animal. Then he waits for me to say "My favorite kisses are Eric kisses!" and kiss him from head to toe.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would catch the eye of a young child because of the texturized pages. The book goes through different animals and the reader can feel the pages to see how those animal kisses would feel like.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harriet is three and a half months old and already she has a little library of her own. Animal Kisses is her latest book, a gift from Judy and Charlie. As with books designed for young children, it is comprised of bright colors, bold line drawings, repetition of themes and tactile experiences.

Animal Kisses has a different animal on every pair of pages. For each animal the reader is asked if he would like to kiss this animal. The question includes a tactile aspect. For example: "Do you like scratchy cat kisses?" The other animal kisses offered are a cow, dog, bear, fish and pig. Like so many of these books, the last page tries to include the reader in the story; this time it does it by asking "What kind of kisses do you like best?"

Although the book is run of the mill, Sean and Harriet both like the book. While Harriet right now likes the bright colors, Sean has been enjoying reading the book to her and sometimes to me.

[Jennifer Rampton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: The book goes through several different animals, asking the child if they like the animal’s kisses. Each mouth of the animal is a different material for the child to feel. The cat has sandpaper for the tongue, the bear has a fuzzy mouth, the cow has velvet for a mouth, a rubbery fish mouth, and a squeaky pig that squeaks when touched.
Personal Reaction: This would be a good book for the children to use when learning about animals and different textures. I think it is a good idea for the kids to touch those and maybe associate the soft kisses to the rough kisses like the cats. The pages are big and easy for the child to turn and read. The pictures are simple and one image. They are colorful and bright.

[Carrie]

This book was actually really cool. I even enjoyed touching the fuzzy and rubbery things. There was a fuzzy kiss in the shape of a bear, and a scratchy feeling type of cat kiss. Also, children would love the colorful images and vibrant colors of the book. The text was very easy to understand for a child, which is always a good thing. It also teaches children all the different animals so they can see a picture with a name on it.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was read at the end of play group. It was fun to see the preschoolers and toddlers clamoring over each other to get a turn to touch each animal. Because of that, I didn't get a close look at all the pages, but it seemed like a good variety in textures. The kids sure seemed happy with it it. I'm not sure if it would have repeated reading appeal, but it worked in this situation.

[Peggy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple touch and feel book with a twist - it's a "kiss" and feel. Not really one of those books that you want to buy used or pass on, but worth the small investment. My two boys loved this one as toddlers. There is something very fun and silly about kissing fuzzy cow noses and sticky fish lips.

[Cammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, hands down, my son's favorite book. He is currently 18 months old. He loves the textural elements and the ability to squeak the pig. We have yet to find another book as popular as this one at our house... And we have plenty!

[Tiggy M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I will like this title more when I learn to appreciate the subtle differences in textures.

[DuPar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids can feel the different textures of scratchy cat kisses, sticky dog kisses, etc. Our squeaky pig kisses has broken, but it is still charming.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1* art
1* concept

-the sensory stuff gets old quick
-a gift

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally people should refrain from providing children with noisy things, and that does particularly include books that make noise. I hate those! Except the squeak at the end here, that's okay.

[J.M. Brister · Rating 5 out of 5]

My four month old daughter was completely fascinated by this book. It will definitely be in the reading rotation for her.

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of our girls' all time favorite stories. At the end, I always say, "Mommy Kisses!" I could recite this book entirely from memory.

[Grillables · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow we managed to borrow a library copy with Braille added to this book. Brilliant!