To ND and Quinn. Life is a ball with you. — A.N. Ruby, Nolan, Grady, Kiera, Weston, Felix, June, Mack, Ivy, Judah and Clark; and for all of the beautiful kids in my life. — S.G. Text copyright © 2022 Amy Novesky Illustrations copyright © 2022 Sara Gillingham Book design by Melissa Nelson Greenberg Published in 2021 by Cameron + C ompany, a division of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available ISBN: 978-1-951836-35-1 Printed in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cameron K ids is an imprint of Cameron + C ompany C ameron + C ompany Petaluma, CA www.cameronbooks.com
words by AMY N OVES K Y pictures by SARA G I LLI N G HAM
Love is a ball, bouncy and bright,
to throw and to roll, to hug and hold tight.
Love is a baseball, snug in a glove.
A puppy’s ball, a score of love-love.
Love is a beach ball.
Love is a balloon.
Love is a bubble.
Love is the moon!
Love is solid.
Love is striped.
A pinball machine! Levers and lights.
t ba ll of all.
a Love is
m
ies
gu
a ll , t h e y u m b m
Love is a kid who plays with every one.
big and soft,
fast and small. A swish.
A basket full.
A slam dunk.
T
W H
! K C A
A home run.
Love is a ball to squeeze with all your might.
good night. Lucky ball, good night.