What makes something not just your favorite—but your favorite favorite? When you’re spending time with a child, even the smallest moment can become the very best. Muddy puddle splashes, impromptu hide-and-seek games, joyful messes, endless curious questions—these are the makings of beautifully chaotic and endlessly wonderful memories together.
In their adorable picture book Favorite Favorite, author M.H. Clark and illustrator Daisy Hirst celebrate the wonder tucked inside everyday life with a little one. Through gentle rhymes and heartwarming illustrations of a rabbit and their bunny babe, this tender bedtime read-aloud reminds children of all the reasons they are someone’s very favorite of all.
We chatted with M.H. Clark and Daisy Hirst about the inspiration behind the story, the magic of rhyme, and the tiny details that bring these pages to life.
Where did the delightful idea for Favorite Favorite come from?
CLARK: I think the seed for this idea came from my time teaching poetry to early elementary-aged children. Kids have an innate love of repetition, and a real understanding for what it means for something to be, for example, not just a “favorite,” but a “favorite favorite.” It’s a playful way of working with language that has always appealed to me deeply, and once I hit on the idea of having the parent or caregiver explaining to a child that they are the “favorite favorite,” the book really began to take off in my mind. What a delight for a child to know they are someone’s “favorite favorite.” It’s the kind of playful but real affirmation that really lands for this age group.
Rhyme plays such an important role in this book. Why do you believe rhyme matters for young readers?
CLARK: Rhyme is such a wonderful language-development tool, and there is so much incredible research about the benefits of reading rhyming books to babies and young children. Rhyme supports language acquisition, listening skills, cognitive development, memory, and concentration, and builds social skills too. There’s a reason that nursery rhymes are a classic! Rhyme also helps little ones engage with a text by predicting what word might come next, which is a beautiful way to instill confidence and a love of reading. I often hear from parents who say, “Your books are the only ones my very young baby will pay attention to!” That’s the beauty of rhyme—it’s resonating on a musical level even before very little ones understand the words themselves.
The artwork is incredibly relatable. Adults will recognize many of the lively, love-filled moments reflected in these pages. As the author, do you have a favorite scene?
CLARK: Daisy has brilliantly illustrated these pages with an immense amount of humor, heart, and spirit. The amount of life she has fit into each of these characters is mind-boggling to me! If I had to pick just one favorite scene, it would be the “My favorite no, my favorite yes, my favorite wild and joyful mess” pages, where little bunny says no to a raincoat, yes to an umbrella, and then jumps gleefully in a mud puddle. The parent-child relationship is captured so simply and profoundly here, with both big bunny and little bunny’s expressions capturing so much authentic emotion.
Daisy, as the illustrator, what drew you personally to this project?
HIRST: I was offered two texts to illustrate at around the same time and they were very different. The reason I chose Favorite Favorite was that it’s about all the ways the parent character loves their smallish child, and as someone with a three-year-old it felt very close to home.
Was there a particular spread you especially loved bringing to life?
HIRST: My favorite is probably, “My favorite oopses and mistakes are all the ones I watch you make.” It was hard to choose which images to include because I had far too many ideas. I so enjoyed trying to capture the seriousness of small people attempting to eat spaghetti or fasten buttons, and the sense of triumph or disaster.
Are there any details in the illustrations that you hope readers will notice?
HIRST: I love details and loved finding them as a child. In this book there are lots of tiny toys and hopefully each has their own personality. There are also some dinosaurs on the weather spread, inspired by my daughter’s love of dinosaurs. And I hope children will enjoy exploring the endpapers, where we’ve included lots of extra tiny drawings of the characters.
Finally, how do you imagine parents and caregivers will experience this book compared to the children listening to it?
CLARK: This is such a lovely question! It’s my hope that parents and caregivers find a lot of soft humor in these pages, and that they recognize the ins and outs and ups and downs of the everyday in a way that feels true to life. And it’s my hope that young readers feel the care and affection in these pages, and that they feel that each aspect of themselves is reflected here and given room to be. And it’s my hope that the idea of a “favorite favorite” anything—person, place, or ice cream flavor—becomes a concept that both children and adults will resonate with!
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Share Favorite Favorite with the little ones in your life today.
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