Learn how to send a hug to someone you love today! This heartfelt story shows readers the incredible impact writing and receiving handwritten letters can have on yourself and others. How will you know your hug arrived safely? Because when you send a hug, You just might get one in return   Artie loves giving hugs. But she can't give a hug to her Grandma who lives so far away. Instead, she shows us how to send hugs using the magic of handwritten letters in this timeless story about connecting to loved ones when you can't always do so in person.   Both timely and timeless, How to Send a Hug is about reaching out across the miles when you can’t do so yourself in person and turning words into love.   Gr 1–4—Instead of calling this book something more prosaic, such as, How to Write and Mail a Letter to Your Favorite Grandparent, the author uses the language of hugs, while the illustrator translates it into nonfiction. "They will take [the letter you have written and put in an envelope and addressed and stamped] to a special building where all the hugs are sorted, and their jackets are stamped so that they all end up at the right place." In an era when many children only see the junk and flyers that line their family mailboxes, or the emails that line a computer screen, this book might be a revelation. The freckle-faced child at its center has not seen her grandmother, Gertie, in months, but here is a way to send a hug and all the accompanying love, straight to her heart. Scenes of postal buildings, carriers, trucks, planes, and all the waiting one does while a letter makes its way to a loved one fill spreads, as do letters that others have written, including one of a diverse crowd joyfully reading over the opened pages. An elderly light-skinned lighthouse keeper, an older man using a wheelchair and a plaid blanket to keep warm, a Black family of three, a white soldier sitting on sandbags, inhaling the scent of the pages—these are scenes of people who know the value of a hug in the mail. Share this with children, then get out the paper and writing materials and get started. VERDICT An old-fashioned way to introduce a newfangled idea: connecting via an envelope full of love, post-pandemic. For class projects or a conversation about long-distance families.—Kimberly Olson Fakih * " A celebration of letters that gently gives young readers the knowledge and tools to share the love." ― Kirkus, starred review *  “ Here is a delightful tribute to “old-fashioned” letter writing that may inspire youngsters to try their hand at creating a work of art that can be read and reread often.”― Booklist, starred review " a sweet-tempered approach to an everyday show of affection." ― Publishers Weekly "... this book might be a revelation. "― School Library Journal Hayley Rocco  has loved children’s books her whole life and worked in publishing for more than a decade promoting them. She’s been sending hugs since she was six. It was only natural that she created a book about how to do just that. Hayley lives in Rhode Island with her husband, two cats, and a very excitable dog. This is her first book. John Rocco  is a #1  New York Times  bestselling author and illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including  Blackout , recipient of the Caldecott Honor and  How We Got To The Moon , recipient of the Sibert Honor and Longlisted for the National Book Award.  John has been learning to send hugs, and is starting to get pretty good at it.