The Mommy-loves-her-young-’un genre is so jam-packed that new entries need to really shine in order to find a place, and this one doesn’t. Rhapsodizing about her young son’s ways, this mother finds her boy so adorable that her first-person narration, though she addresses it directly to her son as “you,” may be more likely to hit the sweet spot for doting parents than little readers. His activities—messy eating, running around naked (no frontal view), “play[ing] with Papa,” hugging, laughing—are presented as simultaneously typical and precious. Some pages will amuse kids, such as the text and funny picture for “I love the way your hair looks in the morning,” while others take too long a view (“I love how every day you grow just a little more…”) or wax too sentimentally metaphorical (“I love the feel of your heartbeat / as if you have a butterfly fluttering in your insides”) to engage tots. Illustrations feel somewhat strained, the figures’ outlines too sketch-like to be anchoring but too heavy to successfully convey motion. Disappointingly bland; Pham has done much better. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-199029-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt.
A love song from parents to their child.
This title will seem quite similar to the many others about parents’ deep love for their children. The text is wholly composed of first-person declarations of parental love, and it’s juxtaposed with illustrations of the child with one or both parents. It’s not always clear who the “I” speaking is, and there are a few pages that instead use “we.” Most sentences begin with “I love you more” phrasing to communicate that nothing could undermine parental love: “I love you more than all the sleepless nights…and all the early, tired mornings.” The accompanying pictures depict the child as a baby with weary parents. Later spreads show the child growing up, and the phrasing shifts away from the challenges of parenting to its joys and to attempts to quantify love: “I love you more than all the blades of grass at the park…and all the soccer that we played.” Throughout, Bell’s illustrations use pastel tones and soft visual texture to depict cozy, wholesome scenes that are largely redundant of the straightforward, warm text. They feature a brown-haired family with a mother, father, and child, who all appear to be white (though the father has skin that’s a shade darker than the others’).
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0652-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and inclusive overview of seasonal celebrations.
A look at the many ways people observe the holiday season.
This rhyming board book serves as a brief introduction to different celebrations. Each two-page layout features a family with items and symbols, such as a menorah or a Christmas tree, as well as a holiday card. Many different types of families are shown getting into the spirit: a single parent and child and a multiracial family, among others. The book includes not only Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, but also “Chrismukkah” (a celebration of both Christmas and Hanukkah). Notably, one spread depicts a family with no holiday symbols; instead, the text wishes readers a cheerful, nonreligious “Season’s Greetings / and Happy New Year!” The illustrations are simple and colorful. Nearly everyone is portrayed with a smile or an open-mouthed grin. Though the art may lack overall sophistication, its inclusive depiction of people gets high marks—in keeping with the book’s spirit of representation, characters range in age, size, ability, and skin tone. While it can be difficult to draw out nuance in a story for toddlers, this book does a lot to underscore the point that family and celebration don’t have singular definitions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A thoughtful and inclusive overview of seasonal celebrations. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66592-141-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
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