Customer Reviews

A Kiss Goodbye

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Conference speaker Audrey Penn presents A Kiss Goodbye, the picturebook sequel to "The Kissing Hand" and "A Pocket Full of Kisses", featuring the further adventures of the lovable young Chester Raccoon and his family. In A Kiss Goodbye, Chester encounters an all-too-common dilemma: the trees in his part of the forest are being cut down, and he and his family have to move to a new home. Chester is saddened at having to say goodbye to his faithful old tree, and apprehensive of moving to a strange new tree, but he soon learns that moving isn't all bad and makes friends with a brand-new playmate. A heartwarming read-aloud storybook, beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Barbara Leonard Gibson.

In A Kiss Goodbye, Chester raccoon has to move because his den tree has been tagged by the tree cutters. Gotta get away! But Chester doesn't want to leave all his friends and favorite places behind. How will he cope?

Okay, I know this is a book for kids. I'm used to them... talking bears, squirrels wearing hats, and rabbits hanging out with ducks. In this book, the illustrations are very realistic renditions of animals and their habitats (very nice). Yet the text talks of Chester going to school, having pockets (?), and "tiny pink cheeks." But because the illustrations are realistic, you don't see Chester in school, with pockets, or with pink cheeks. In other words, the text kept clashing with the illustrations. Now I know this is a kids book, but the story could have been enhanced by illustrations that... fit the story! I'd read the text... Chester is putting a chip of his old den in his pocket, then look at the illustration and... what pockets?

A Kiss Goodbye was less impressive as a story, but perhaps more useful as a storybook about moving.

Loved 'The Kissing Hand' by this author and was totally prepared to love this book too.
Unfortunately the story is not one I would recommend for the child who is seriously upset about having to move.
First off, the child's fears and resistance are described as whining, pouting and grumbling! Okay, they really are going to want to identify with Chester after that!
The reason they are moving is a pretty darn difficult one to deal with : their section of the woods has been marked for being chopped down for wood! So Chester's happy home and play spaces are going to be chopped up and hauled away. No one seems really concerned about this though and everyone is very happily heading on to new pastures. Isn't Chester a little right to be freaking out at these delusional adults who are oblivious to the future of their little neck of the woods??
I get it - Chester moves because his family is what is important - not where they live. He also moves because everyone else is moving. When is that going to happen in our little human lives - unless a neighborhood is to be bulldozed??
Chester also has a happy moment of finding a cute little girl racoon with whom everything will turn out well. His new house is cool, his little brother is being cuddly and everything is hunky-dory.
BUT . . . If my kid was Chester, he would be setting up a cordon around the woods and demanding a hearing into why his woods are being targeted. So, no consolation here for the truly distressed child. There are many other good books out there on moving, the trauma of moving and of losing touch with old friends. I'd try those before adding Chester's tragedy to the already heavy load your kiddo may be dealing with!!

We just moved into a new home last week and my daughters were both very sad. Their grandfather brought them a copy of "A Kiss Goodbye" and they absolutley loved the story. They adore chester the raccoon and all of his adventures. The Kissing Hand helped my eldest daughter adjust to a new school, and a Pocket Full of Kisses comforted her when her sister was born. Now A Kiss Goodbye has helped ease the transitions for both of the girls into their new house. We highly recommend this story to all families!

M Blitz

Chester has to move, and he is not happy about it at all... in fact he is distraught. Not only does he have to move out of the home he loves he has to move away from all of his friends. Mrs. Raccoon tries to sooth Chester's sadness by telling him that he will make new friends and have new adventures at their new home. Chester is not convinced but begrudgingly says to goodbye to him home. At their new home Chester does indeed meet a new friend, a girl Raccoon....

Audrey Penn focuses on a topic that most children experience at least once in their lives: moving away from what they know, for many different reasons. While moving is always hard, Audrey Penn shows that sometimes hard things are for the best (in this case Chester makes a new friend in the end and they have a home). At the same time, Audrey Penn does a beautiful job in showing that even though in the end everything worked out, Chester's feelings were still important. A Kiss Goodbye is a great book for all children to read, as they find that their emotions are normal, important and that sometimes things do work out.

Dear Chester is having a difficult time because he is faced with the sad happening that children all over our United States (and the world) have to come to terms with these days: he has to move away from the security of the home he knows and loves. He also has to move away from his familiar friends and school. Many today have to move away from daddys or mommys or grandparents, too.

While his mother does all she can to reassure Chester, he is still sad. Fortunately, he knows how to express his feelings. He also finds ways to comfort himself. Ultimately, Chester does make the move with his mom and little brother, finds his new home comfortable and meets a new friend.

What makes this book so powerful and beautiful for children is the path that Chester shows them by expressing his feelings of sadness and loss, his fears about moving, and his finding ways to literally carry pieces of his home and room with him to his new house. These and other ways of coping are invaluable for children in crisis, as well as children who simply have to move for reasons of their parent's work transfers and other purposes.

Chester's readjustment to his new home shows a child the hope for new friends and a new adventure in a different home. And, the original "kissing hand" is carried through to assure children and Chester that no matter where he is there's the security of love that's always with him.

The illustrations are, again, simply beautiful and telling of the story in this book. It can be read from several different venues, but having the hard copy makes it available for a child to pick up whenever he or she needs the extra boost of support and security.

I love this book which I hope to get for my grandsons who've moved to CA. I've already read the book to the eldest one for his cassette tape from Grammie.

Highly recommended for children of all ages, actually... Moms and Dads, too.

5 safe harbor stars

I bought this for my daughter(then 3 years old) when we found out we had to move to a new state and she would be going to a new school. We were as a family, very upset about the move and once I started to read this book, though it brought tears to my eyes almost every time, it was most helpful.
It really helped my daughter realize that everything would be ok; people move, things change, it doesn't mean you have to forget anything or anyone.
We recently moved again, and got thru this book this time without any tears. It is one of our favorite in the Kissing Hand series. The illustrations are beautiful, I do wish they would use different colored print so that I didn't have to sit right underneath a light when I read it at night to my girls; some of the pages are very dark and so is the text.

I love all of the Audrey Penn "Chester" books. I think this one has the best illustrations of them all. My students really enjoyed it too.

The original book- the Kissing hand is by far the best. This was good but does not come close to the original KISSING HAND book.

Chester Raccoon books are a great learning tool for children. I teach Pre-K and my class loves Chester and all of his adventures.