Heartfelt verbal and visual images strongly validate the invisible, invincible ties binding parent and child in this upbeat affirmation. A mother lovingly reminds her son that every morning after she kisses him goodbye and heads to work, she feels something inside and, when she looks, she finds him in her heart. No matter what she’s doing all day long at work, he remains in her heart. And when she comes back home at night and he’s tucked “toasty warm in bed,” he’s still inside her heart. She reassures him that “I can’t go anyplace without you!” Even in the worst weather, she feels him snug inside her. Set against a bustling multicultural urban backdrop, watercolor and collage illustrations track in brilliant and comforting detail the breakfast through bedtime activities of parent and child. Bang’s masterful use of color and shape to evoke emotion, her representation of the mother with a heart literally enclosing the child and her creative juxtaposition of playful illuminated letters reinforce the parent-child bond. Happy and heartwarming. (Picture book. 2-6)
