THE PROMISE BASKET

A Canadian broadcaster and author of humorous books for adults and children, Richardson takes a departure here to offer an ode to maternal love.

The story about a white, rosy-cheeked mother and daughter who live by the sea is written primarily in the third person. They are poor, but the woman “was determined that gifts would be given when gifts needed giving.” So on each special occasion, starting on the baby’s first birthday, she finds a stone and writes an accompanying poem to place in a basket she’s rescued from someone’s trash. The poem becomes a rhyming refrain for each situation, the first couplet unchanging and the second varying according to the situation. “A stone when it's thrown can damage, can break, / but nothing can shatter the promise I make. / This stone and this promise are all I can give: / I'll love you each day for as long as I live.” Kolesar’s compositions, rendered in watercolor, gouache, graphite, and colored pencil, have a primitive, folk-art quality. A stylized tree figures prominently; at one point its roots form the capillaries of the mother’s heart. The illustrations offer decorative rather than deeper narrative support. Ultimately, the basket is passed along for the grandchild. In the tradition of Robert Munsch’s Love You Forever (1995), the perspective and sentiments are wrapped in adult nostalgia but without drama or humor to maintain a child’s interest.

Grandmothers are the target audience; skip for children.