There’s a soft and smiling small ‘hug’ peeking up through the covers of both Star and Love. Each sturdy board book comes with its own tiny stuffed toy – Star with a bright yellow star, and Love with a crimson heart.
The books reassure little ones that they are safe, secure, and loved. They offer a gentle introduction to meditation principles by encouraging deep breathing, imagination, and affirmations as self-calming practices.
Star reminds us that it’s ok to have a worry when trying to fall asleep and suggests that a wiggle followed by 4 or 5 long deep breaths will help us to relax. If that pesky worry is still there, then squeezing the soft star can send the worry on its way. (If only adult life were that simple!)
Past all the planets, far far away, the stars hold hands and dance until day.
Your worry flies with them, deep into space, swirling and vanishing, leaving no trace.
Pastel-coloured sheep, owls, raccoons, chickens, stars and planets frolic on each page.
Love follows a similar format and emphasises the importance of being friendly and kind to others.
If you’re tired or angry, or not feeling right, take this soft heart and cuddle it tight.
With one big, deep breath, and now with two, feel the love flow, from my heart back to you.
Love’s illustrations are the same style as those in Star with happy pandas, rabbits, owls, penguins, bees and bears.
The soft toys are the perfect size for toddler hands, although the care tags indicate that both the star and the heart are ‘suitable from birth’. There’s a wee loop on the back of each toy so that it can be attached to something else.
The toys are designed to be easily detached from the books. Star suggests children keep the star ‘under their pillow’, Love says that children can ‘carry [the heart] with them all day long’, and both books describe the toys as ‘a little hug in your pocket’. I wonder how easy it will be to keep these tiny toys with the relevant book. The rhymes will make less sense if the shapes have been lost.
Both Love and Star can help toddlers develop soothing strategies and are suitable for reading aloud at bedtime.
Reviewer: Anne Kerslake Hendricks
Allen & Unwin