Scott C.Kirja-arvosteluja

The hug machine is here. And he is obviously very good at hugging. He hugs everything and everyone he sees, and there’s no escaping. He embraces those who need a hug and makes a difference to them. So, the hug machine will hug everyone, even a spiky porcupine or a giant whale. But now he has a problem. Who will solve it?

We picked this book for its title. The book talks about a hug machine and his typical day. The illustrations are whimsical.

Hug Machine by Scott Campbell has a fun storyline where a hug machine is trying to make people’s days better.

A single-minded little kid is bent on hugging everyone. Their reactions vary; many are straight-faced. And he doesn't just hug people; he hugs trees, mailboxes, park benches, and fire hydrants as well ("I hug everything I see!"). He even hugs a baby (it stops crying) and a hedgehog (with protective gear). At the end of the day, when the Hug Machine is finally tired, he isn't too tired to receive a hug from his mama.

"People often ask what the Hug Machine eats to keep the hugging energy high.
Well, the answer is pizza.
The Hug Machine likes pizza very much."

One of our daughter's absolute favorites - and ours. The writing is great, the art is great - we love this one.

"Whoa! Here I come! I am the Hug Machine!" starts this wonderful book about a little boy who hugs everything. He hugs people, animals, and even a fire hydrant and mailbox! He hugs hard things, soft things, square things and long things. But, can he hug a spiky porcupine or a humongous whale? The Hug Machine will do anything to give a hug. With simple and warm watercolor illustrations, this book shows how a simple act of kindness can change someone's mood and make them feel great. Recommended for children of all ages and their families.

Taylor W. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

This book talks about a boy who like to give hugs and calls himself a Hug Machine. This boy hugs everything he sees, soft and hard things, different things that are different shapes and different sizes of things. He cheers up people with his hugs and calms people down.

Ages: 3-5
Source: Pierce County Library System

Illustrations: watercolor. This book is about a little boy who loves to hug whatever comes in his path. He hugs any human, animal, object that he can. He even hugs a porcupine and a whale that never get hugged! At the end of the day, he finds himself very tired because he spent the whole day hugging! Now it's his mom's turn to hug the hug machine. This book is realistic fiction because it is a story that could actually happen. All of the characters involved are humans who only do realistic actions. There is also an apparent theme throughout the book of kindness. Age appropriateness: primary.

A young boy who absolutely loves to hug everyone and everything he encounters chronicles his hugging adventures in this amusing picture-book from author/artist Scott Campbell. "I am the Hug Machine," he declares at the beginning of the book, going on to describes the many different people and objects he has embraced. At the end of a long day of hugging, the boy is quite tired - but not too tired to be hugged himself!

Although not particularly strong as a story - really, it's more a string of hugs, represented in both textual and visual form - The Hug Machine is a picture-book with charm, particularly for children (or their parents) who like to hug. Scott Campbell's artwork, done in watercolor, is quirky and amusing, particularly in its depiction of the reactions of many of the 'Hug Machine's' victims (I mean recipients!). In some ways, this one reminded me of Nicholas Oldland's Big Bear Hug, another amusing picture-book about an over-eager hugger. Recommended to children who enjoy stories with a silly sense of humor, or who love to hug themselves.

On the cover of this large picture book is a simple cartoonish little boy hugging a mailbox. The story begins “Whoa! Here I come! I am the Hug Machine!” The child with the spaghetti like arms and the huge head goes on to explain how wonderful his hug*and how they help everyone and everything around. He is indiscriminate in his hugging. Soft, hard, big, small, spiky, living, inanimate, it doesn’t matter – everyone gets a hug. His hugs are fueled by pizza and when he is exhausted at the end of the day, he gladly receive a hug from his mother.

I love the subtle message of this story. Even the smallest person can make the world a better place by sharing his simple gift, in this case, great hugs.

The illustrations are wonky cute watercolors. They are simple, but expressive, and always humorous.

A delightful book.

Weird. Retro, what with the cover feature of a mailbox and an inside picture that includes a traffic policeman with whistle (do they exist anywhere anymore??). ?�And in these days of 'stranger danger' and 'respect for personal space' I don't know that a little boy could run all over town passing out hugs. ?áStill, the world would be a better place if more of us were hug machines. ?áYay for Campbell (who lives in NYC) for trying to spread the meme.

More hugs for everyone!!½

This is a lovely little gem about a young boy who just can't stop hugging everyone and everything. All day long he works his way around the neighborhood, rising to every hug challenge that comes his way. At the end of the story he, the hug machine is very worn out, but of course he gets to receive one last hug from his mama.

The message of this book is to always try and be kind to people.
I thought this book was quite interesting because of the illustrations, the plot, and the language.
The illustrations were my favorite part of this book. I enjoyed how the illustrator decided to create the illustrations with messy lines, light shading while making them appear very simple. There wasn’t much detail in the illustrations which I think was an excellent idea. I also enjoyed the on most pages, the background was white with little pictures scattered across the page. Most of the time, I don’t enjoy that style of drawing but I think it worked well with this particular book.
I thought that the plot was quite interesting also. I thought it was a cute and realistic thing for a young child to constantly want to hug everyone and thing because it would make them happy. I also thought it was cute at the end when the hug machine couldn’t give anymore hugs, he ended up getting a hug instead. It was an adorable ending.
Lastly, I enjoyed the language. I liked how at the end of almost every page, the little boy would say “I am the hug machine”. This last line would create a chance for young readers to participate in the reading process. Also I enjoyed that the language was quite simple. The sentences were never too long and they were filled with relatively easy words for young readers.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked it because the concept of the book is very cute. The main character in this book loves to hug everything (plants, animals, objects, and people). He goes around making everyone happy by hugging them. On the contrary, I don’t like this because it doesn’t send a good message to the targeted audience. Young children are still learning about personal space, and having boundaries, and this book really throws that idea out the window. The little boy explains that he has everything no matter what, “even if it drives them nuts.” I don’t like that because it may encourage to do the same, which isn’t good. Additionally, the book was very simple. There was no rising action, climax, falling action, or resolution. The book was just about all the different things and people the little boy likes to hug. Lastly, the main message of this story is that hugs are available to anyone no matter what size, shape or form they are in.

IB PYP: caring, risk-taker, balanced, reflective.

So cute! :)

He'll hug anything, anytime, anywhere.

The hug machine goes around giving hugs to everyone; small, large, square, big and tall. He eats pizza to refuel himself.
Friendship, fun book to read.

K-2

Read on November 01, 2014

Very cute about a little guy that really likes to share his hugs even with those others might not want to hug...but someone should tell him it's not a good idea to hug strangers.

This was a good children's book for a younger crowd. The little boy went around hugging everything he could find, he was irresistible. This book was very uplifting and the bright illustrations illuminated that idea. I think this book she be read to Kindergarten even preschoolers because of the context. A more mature audience might think it was a little silly and juvenile.

A young boy dubs himself the hug machine. He goes around hugging everything in sight: small large, square, big, take, everything. The young boy eats pizza to stay fueled. Eventually he becomes to tired to hug, so his mom hugs him. k-2

Title: Great Showdowns: The Return
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: Titan Books
Source: Titan Books
Genre(s): Art, Film, Pop Culture

Review Spoilers: N/A

So what about the second installment? Still pretty much one of the most awesome art related books out there. Still full of awesome artwork from Scott C. Still full of classic moments in film history. Really, the only reason I docked it a star this time around was that there just seemed to be a lot more obscure films in this one than the other. I’ve seen a few other reviews that have said the same so I don’t feel too bad for my apparent lack of knowledge of the classic origins for these pieces.

That said, there are still plenty of super recognizable moments.

The book starts out with an introduction much like before except this time it’s from Edgar Wright who – much like Neil Patrick Harris before him – is a huge fan of Scott C. Next to this introduction is one of the best drawings in the book which shows the characters in Hot Fuzz facing off. Then we hear from Scott himself once again in a rather disjointed message where ultimately the best part is his drawing smiley faces on terrifying things like a bloody knife to make them happy.

Great Showdowns: The Return starts off strong with the Karate Kid on the title page and moves into several other great ones. I think my favorite is probably the full two-page Sandlot drawing but there are tons of other great ones. Some other great ones are: Office Space, Home Alone, West Side Story, District 9, Spaceballs, Hocus Pocus, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Galaxy Quest, and Spirited Away. There’s also a great Ferris Bueller one with Cameron and the painting smiling back.

Final Thoughts:
Ultimately, both books are must buys as far as I am concerned. Scott C. is a great artist who deserves the support and he’s got a number of other books out, too, that you should check out. You can also check out his work with Double Fine by playing through Psychonauts (one of the most underrated games ever) and Brutal Legend. And ComicBookMovie.com did a fantastic interview with Scott back in August that you should totally read.

Title: The Great Showdowns
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Publisher: Titan Books
Source: Owned, bought from Amazon.com
Genre(s): Art, Film, Pop Culture

Review Spoilers: N/A

If we were pitting the two of these books againts one another in a battle to the death, I honestly think that this first installment in the Great Showdowns book series would come out the winner. The book starts out strong, grabbing readers instantly on the title page by offering up a scene inspired by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows with Voldemort and Nagini on one side and Harry – wand at the ready – and Neville with sword in hand on the other.

An introduction by Neil Patrick Harris follows and Neil basically fanboys over Scott C. as much as I did. Except he some how makes it sound way cooler. After which we get a brief introduction by the author before we’re immediately thrown into a whirlwind of pop culture nostalgia.

Going into this book my only real concern was that I wouldn’t recognize a lot of the drawings. Online Scott C. includes a quote from every movie with each drawing so if you don’t immediately recocgnize them you can always google the quote and generall figure it out. Sadly, the book does not do this – possibly for copyright reasons? Who knows. But that was my main concern and it was completely unfounded. Some of the highlights of this book include drawings of the Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, the Shining, Starship Troopers, Jurassic Park, Tron, Star Wars, and the Wizard of Oz among so many more.

Some of the pieces are a little more diluted or raw than some of the stuff you’ll find on the Tumblr. That’s likely because this book seems to include a good amount of his earlier work from the beginning of the Great Showdowns series. They are still as awesome as any other and this book get a solid five stars from me. It’s fun, adorable, and its the kind of book you can share with anyone. I mean, seriously. It makes Se7en some how adorable.½

This is an art book full of prints of Scott C.'s watercolors featuring showdowns between movie characters, like the Ghostbusters vs. Slimer. I was surprised at the weight of the book; it's pretty hefty for such a small book. The style of the art is simple and cute. Really. I find it amazing how just a line or two can clearly define for me just what character is portrayed. There were several movies I didn't recognize, however, so I wish there was an index at the back to help define the images. As a Muppet fan, I'm also sad that one of the paintings mentioned by Neil Patrick Harris in his introduction is not present in the book: Kermit vs. Doc Hopper. Overall, fantastic book. In fact I bought two copies so that I could spread the love at Christmas.

Although this book wouldn’t be called a typical comic or even graphic novel, it is a great collection of illustrations of Scott Campbell, who in my opinion is a talented watercolor illustrator (which is one of the most difficult mediums to master). This collection pulls together a variety of artwork and illustrations that Scott C has produced over the last few years in one collection for viewers to enjoy. And also lets be honest, how can you not pick up a book where the forward was written by Jack Black (yes that Jack Black of movie fame and the voice of Kung Fu Panda.)

Scott C. has a whimsical style to his artwork that is influenced by everything from pop culture to lumberjacks to music to everything in between. For example one of his pieces is entitled “Sushi off a Friend” which depicts the A-Team eating sushi off of “The Great American Hero.” Seriously how can cool is it to see Mr. T using chopsticks to eat a hamburger (you didn’t really think he’d be eating sushi did you)? It’s a whimsical type of illustration, but captures the characters perfectly so that you instantly know that who you’re looking at without any names to the characters. Or how about the illustration of Voltron where the green lion has detached itself to get a bite to eat out of a giant cat bowl. No it didn’t really happen in the show, but it’s that instant flash of recognition and the inescapable chortle of laughter as you recognize what’s going on. And this particular illustration is sold by the small smile creeping across the lion’s faces as they watch the green lion eat. This is the type of illustration that Scott C personifies. These relatively small pieces that capture the familiar moments and give them something a bit unusual, to make us pause for just that split second to recognize them, and then smile and laugh as we see characters/creatures that we know/recognize in slightly unfamiliar positions.

To be honest one of my favorite things about this book is Scott C’s introduction, where he talks about his background, how his journey into the art world, and just his thoughts in general. I find myself recognizing aspects of my own path, well not the working at Star Wars part or the being an art director for a company, but of tracing and drawing other styles. Of creating my own adventures and stories of characters other writers had given the world and taking them in my own direction and finally creating my own characters. Ones that belonged to me. It gives me inspiration to pick up the pencils and graphite again to reengage my artistic senses to see where it might lead.

I had the chance to meet Scott briefly at Emerald City Comicon this year and his work is just as beautiful in person as it in this book (I wasn’t able to buy in of it, but I did get a signed bookplate for my copy of the book.) If you like whimsical watercolor then pick up this book and give it a flip through. You might just enjoy it.