Nobody hugs a cactus

by Carter Goodrich

Hardcover, 2018

Status

Checked out
Due 2024-04-20

Collection

Publication

New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2018]

Description

Hank, a cactus who is as prickly on the inside as he is on the outside, decides he wants a hug.

User reviews

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
A cactus named Hank is quite happy with his solitary life, and rejects every effort at friendliness, whether from Rosie the tumbleweed or a passing tortoise. But when a cowboy suggests that what he needs is a hug, only to state that nobody hugs a cactus, it begins a slow process whereby Hank
Show More
realizes that, contrary to his expectations, he does want a little affection. But who would hug a cactus...?

Stories in which unlikely creatures long for a hug - a porcupine, in Laurie Isop's How Do You Hug a Porcupine?, Aaron Blabey's I Need a Hug, and Holly Hobbie's Elmore; a snake, in Barbara Joose's Wally Wants To Hug; and another cactus, in Simona Ciraolo's Hug Me - are not that uncommon in the world of picture-books. I therefore picked up Carter Goodrich's Nobody Hugs a Cactus with a bit of trepidation, wondering whether it would feel like a book I had already read countless times. As it turns out, although the author/illustrator doesn't really cover any new ground here, his narrative is engaging enough, and his artwork sufficiently appealing, that I still enjoyed the story. I appreciated the subtle way in which Hank is led from a rejection of affection, through the stages of denial about possibly wanting affections, through seemingly hopeless longing for affection. Fortunately for him, it turns out that somebody does want to hug a cactus. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories about the importance of friendship and affection, as well as to those seeking picture-books set in the American southwest.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lycomayflower
Eh? Cactus is grumpy and no one wants to be around him... because he's grumpy. And then he gets lonely because no one wants to be around him... so he changes? I dunno, I just found the rhetoric around feelings and whatnot not great or not nuanced or something here? There's a fine line between
Show More
learning not to be a little sh*t (good) and learning to change yourself to suit other people's idea of what you should be (bad), and I just didn't like the way this navigated that line. YMMV.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BenKline
The second of two books me and Mara read tonight (the first was Bashi, Baby Elephant). This was cute, and Mara enjoyed it. I did think... though, narratively, or underlying, theres kind of a dark message to this though.

One of the last sentences or thoughts or parts of the book (however you want to
Show More
phrase it) the cactus says something like: "Well, its better to have somebody than nobody at all." (verbatim)

Which... just seems bleak, and also kind of sends the wrong message. I rather think my daughters (and myself actually), that I'd rather be HAPPY with MYSELF than to just settle for anyone, regardless of who/what/how they are. Theres millions of people, I could settle down with someone, but if their a jerk, or an *ssh*l*, or a prig, or whatever terminology you want to use, I'd rather be by myself, alone, potentially lonely, but at least happy; and that would be ultimately better than "being with anybody" for the sake of it.

I dunno, perhaps I'm reading too much into a children's book. *SHRUG*
Show Less

Awards

Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades K-2 — 2021)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — Picture Books — 2021)
Flicker Tale Award (Nominee — Younger Readers — 2022)
Ladybug Picture Book Award (Nominee — 2021)

Language

Original publication date

2019

ISBN

1534400907 / 9781534400900

Barcode

76
Page: 1.0875 seconds