My Love is For You

March 1, 2019

Toddler-PreS-An unidentified speaker compares the attributes of her love to common occurrences in nature. "The shadow of a buttercup, the sigh of a moth, that's how tender my love is." Love's fierceness is like a mother bear "cuddling her cubs." The strength of love is like "wild winds." Folksy nature illustrations are rendered in watercolor and gouache. Bold, high-contrast spreads show a deer and a fawn running through a field during a rainstorm, a horse and a foal galloping through the snow, and Canada geese flying over cozy country cottages. However, this book will struggle to find an audience; the comparisons are too abstract for youngsters to grasp, and the text is lofty and impersonal. A more practical snuggle-up companion for caregiver and child is Amy Krouse Rosenthal's That's Me Loving You or Sam McBratney's classic Guess How Much I Love You? VERDICT For exhaustive collections only.-Richelle Rose, Kenton County Public Library, KY

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2019
A poetic ode to the love a parent feels for a child--love that is "pure," "tender," "sweet," "fierce," "strong," and "endless." These rather abstract terms are explained using similes drawn from nature. Each stanza opens with two lines that begin with "Like." Further figurative language is embedded in each stanza. Loose watercolor-and-gouache pictures pair the words with idealized visions of the natural world. Only three illustrations include people, all with light skin. Even though the seasons are not named, the verses and pictures evoke them, with spring: "Like blossoms kissing your eyes in sunlight, / a soft breeze misting your cheeks with dew, // like snowdrops bowing their heads to no one, / that's how pure my love is." In summer, love is "like blackberries big as your thumbs, and juicy, / and honey from bees who go bizz-buzz-whizz"; in fall it is "like mother bear cuddling her cubs in her den"; and finally in winter it's "like mountains heaving under drifts of snow." The final stanza invites the child to "count the stars on a night clear anew, / that's how endless my love is for you." The rather sophisticated phrasing and obscure comparisons may leave very young children puzzled. But the message of unconditional parental love cannot be missed even if toddlers don't understand all the language. If your love is sweet like honey, share this with a child your love is for. (Board book. 2-4)

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