How to Build a Hug by Amy Gugliemo and Jacqueline Tourville illustrated by Giselle Potter

How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and her amazing squeeze machine 

Many Grade 4 classes here in NSW are reading a book called The Thing about Oliver which is a story told from the point of view of Oliver's sister. Oliver is severely autistic and this makes life very hard for Tilly. It seems everything they do is organised around the needs of her brother. Tilly lives on edge feeling responsible to keep her brother safe. Her own dreams are always pushed into the background.

Publisher blurb for How to Build a Hug: As a young girl, Temple Grandin loved folding paper kites, making obstacle courses, and building lean-tos. But she really didn’t like hugs. Temple wanted to be held—but to her, hugs felt like being stuffed inside the scratchiest sock in the world; like a tidal wave of dentist drills, sandpaper, and awful cologne, coming at her all at once. Would she ever get to enjoy the comfort of a hug? Then one day, Temple had an idea. If she couldn’t receive a hug, she would make one…she would build a hug machine!

You can see inside this book here. You can hear the book here - it begins at minute 4.25. How to Build a Hug was published in 2018. It is still available but sadly it is quite expensive here in Australia. 

I think it would be excellent to share How to Build a Hug after reading The Thing about Oliver. Temple Grandin is an autistic woman (albeit not as severely affected as Oliver) and this book we read about how she makes a success of her life. Dr Temple Grandin is now a professor of animal science and an advocate who shares her personal experiences of autism. Reading this book may give students a more balanced view of autism and other neurodivergent conditions. Also, this story is told from Temple's point of view which could allow some good discussion and comparison with The Thing about Oliver. 

"Sometimes when Temple was having a really bad day, she crawled under the sofa cushions and asked her little sister to hop on top. The smoosh of the heavy pillows felt cozy."

Temple Grandin is well-known for being an autism advocate, and this peek into her younger years, and her aversion to hugs is wonderfully done. We see the bright little girl struggling to enjoy something she knows others enjoy and how hard that is for her to live with. Stories like these help children understand how other children on the spectrum might think of touch and sound and could be comforting for children struggling to avoid touch – they are, after all, not alone. The Children's Book Review

You might like to explore other books illustrated by Giselle Potter. If you are interested in reading more picture book biographies (perhaps of people like Temple who I had not heard of) my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a splendid Pinterest collection which is well worth exploring. 

I do not agree with the way our NSW English units intensively study one text but if you want to see the Grade 4 (Stage 2) unit on the book The Thing about Oliver here is the link. I do wish the syllabus writers had considered including a list of other books to read either after or alongside The Thing about Oliver such as How to build a Hug.