Love You More. Susan Musgrave. Illustrated by Esperança Melo. Victoria, BC: Orca, 2014. 24 pp., board, pdf & epub, $9.95 (bb). ISBN 978-1-45980-240-7 (bb), ISBN 978-1-45980-241-4 (pdf), ISBN 978-1-45980-713-6 (epub). Preschool / Birth-age 3. Review by Gwen Smid. *** /4 Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy.

excerpt:

I love you more than the stars so high
Winking and dancing in the January sky.
I love you more than the snowdrops in the park
Lighting our way through the February dark.

Written in rhyming couplets by Susan Musgrave, a 2011 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry finalist, Love You More is a sweet board book that narrates a parent’s love for her/his child over the course of one year.

      The book’s strength exists in Esperança Melo’s artwork. Painted with acrylics on gessoed paper – a technique that creates beautiful texture – the illustrations are joyful, bursting with movement and stunning contrasting colours. Each page features a little girl and her teddy bear enjoying seasonal outdoor activities: snowy discoveries, rainy walks, sandy frolics, and leafy tumbles.

      Although the poem is not highly original (whispering autumn leaves, for example), it is easy to commit to memory after only a few readings -- an important feature for a story that is sure to be read over and over. Babies will be lulled to sleep by the gentle rhymes, and toddlers will have fun learning about the various critters that appear in the story as the seasons change.

      Love You More is sure to become a much-read bedtime favourite.

Recommended.

Gwen Smid is an Ottawa, ON, teacher, a writer, and a mom of two little girls who love bedtime (and any time) stories.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

 

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