A Kiss Goodbye
A Kiss Goodbye by Audrey Penn takes about 10 minutes to read aloud (1,116 words, about 3 sentences a page), and it lands best with children aged 4-6.
Measured read-aloud timeabout 10 minutes
- Words
- 1,116
- Sentences a page
- 3
- Re-read tolerance
- 3/5holds up
- Vocabulary
- 3/5a few new words
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The useful verdict
Why A Kiss Goodbye works
Chester Raccoon has to leave his tree because the loggers are coming, and his mother reuses the kissing hand to carry him into both a new home and a new school. Families already running that ritual get to apply it to the move without inventing anything new.
Before you buy it
Only works if the child knows The Kissing Hand first, and at ten minutes it is the longest book in this group.
Themes: moving, rituals, raccoons, new school.
Same shape, new story
Books like A Kiss Goodbye
Matched by length, refrain, sentence density, and listener—not just subject.
Straight answers
Questions parents ask about A Kiss Goodbye
- How long does it take to read A Kiss Goodbye aloud?
- About 10 minutes at an unhurried pace, from a word count of 1,116. Reading it fast shaves perhaps a third off; stopping for questions on every page can double it.
- What age is A Kiss Goodbye actually for?
- Ages 4-6 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 3 sentences a page and vocabulary at 3 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
- Does A Kiss Goodbye survive being read on repeat?
- Yes, reasonably. It stays bearable through the repeat-request phase without becoming a favourite forever.
- Can a beginning reader read A Kiss Goodbye on their own?
- Not yet. At vocabulary level 3 out of 5 and 3 sentences a page, it is a read-aloud book rather than a first solo read. Read it to them now, and hand it over in a year or two.
- Is A Kiss Goodbye part of a series?
- Yes, it belongs to the The Kissing Hand series. It stands on its own, so you can start here without reading the others in order, then move to the rest if it lands.
- What themes does A Kiss Goodbye cover?
- We tag it with moving, rituals, raccoons and new school. Those are the threads that actually run through the book, not just the ones on the cover, which is how it earns its place on our themed lists rather than a keyword match.