Doctor Kiss Says Yes

Joan Buchanan is a writer, storyteller and instructor and author of
Taking Care of My Cold.

Dr. Kiss Says Yes is a subtle and gentle tale, one to read and reread.
Fitzgerald’s illustrations won her the Governor General’s Award.

Dr. Kiss is a young girl who gets a note one day after school to come
to the aid of a knight in distress. That night she goes to bed after a
big supper, “one million kisses, fifteen hugs, forty squeezes and five
tickles for good luck,” with “one box of pineapple juice with a
straw, one apple cut into eight pieces and her doctor kit.” Then she
puts on her clothes, climbs out the window and is transported to a land
of knights and damsels. Only Dr. Kiss can heal the broken Sir Roderick,
who has battled with “evil knights riding giant black horses.” She
uses her special bandages and remedies, such as “one million kisses,
fifteen hugs. . . .”

Children will identify with Dr. Kiss and Sir Roderick, for they are
part of an attractive meshing of the fairy-tale world and everyday
modern routines, an archetypal fantasy. Appeal also lies in the caring
attitudes of all except the evil knights.

Fitzgerald’s soft, whimsical illustrations fit the text’s gentle,
almost lullaby-like tone. The book is sturdily bound and will provide a
safe haven for many hearts and minds, especially those of preschoolers
to second-graders.