ALONG CAME YOU

This misguided attempt to make a child feel special unfolds in the voice of a doting mother who tells her daughter a sentimental story contrasting her life before and after having a child. The text follows a “before you/after you” pattern with comparisons that will be familiar to adult readers but often mystifying to the intended younger audience. For example, young children won’t understand (or care about) the distinction between a house “decorated with style” and one “decorated with love,” and only older children with a good grasp of mathematical reasoning would comprehend reading books of a thousand pages versus reading one picture book a thousand times. The illustrations show the mother and daughter engaging in the activities of their current life, but the mother’s old way of life is not shown, which would have provided a clear contrast to her present-day world. A brief introductory quotation from the Book of Psalms gives the book a religious orientation, though there is no other religious content. (Picture book. 3-5)