Mama Loves You So

July 1, 2017
All mamas love their babies, whether human or animal. "Higher than an eagle flies, pure as sparkling snow, / stronger than a stony peak, / Mama loves you so." The rhyming verse unfurls similar sentiments across each double-page spread. The autumn-toned art, which looks as if it were created on a computer to resemble cut-paper collage, sets these verses in various animal habitats, including an eyrie in the mountains, the woods where fox and bear mother-and-child dyads explore, and a tree with dangling possum and joey. When readers meet the human mama, who has a light-brown complexion and medium brown hair, she is walking through the countryside wearing her baby, who has a slightly lighter coloring and angelic disposition, in a front carrier. While this series is dubbed New Books for Newborns, very young infants with eyes that are still learning to focus will be hard-pressed to decipher the detailed art, not to mention their sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed parents. Fortunately, the lyrical text may help promote the intended parent-child bonding. A lovely lullaby, but the delicate art is too subtle for newborn eyes. (Board book. 3 mos.-1)

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