I LOVE YOU, LITTLE ONE
From the Peekaboo Pop-Up Fun series
illustrated by Suzie Mason
Adoring animal mothers and their babies stand out (literally) on each board-book page.
Two lines of rhyming text per double-page spread describe a mother’s unconditional love. The verse is pedestrian at best and unengagingly tepid in its rhythm: “You are my sunshine, little one— / With you, the world is bright and fun.” Soft-edged illustrations show deer, penguin, squirrel, seal, bear, and elephant parent-and-offspring pairs. (The larger deer depicted has spots, just like its fawn, suggesting it’s a type not common to North America.) Each of the species represented does care for their young, but smiles and behaviors make it clear these are merely stand-ins for human caregivers and children. However, the idealized images match the sweet tone of the text and do not represent a range of realistic human emotions. Pick up Sandra Boynton’s I Love You, Little Pookie (2018) for a more genuine and toddler-appropriate expression of parental love. The pop-up feature on each spread is also superfluous. Simple cutouts bend forward as the page is turned but do not provide additional information or add to the slight storyline.
Altogether, a disappointment.
(Board book. 1-3)