Review: Love You Forever

There are a plethora of schmaltzy ‘love you’ books on the market, capitalising on the unique bond between parent and child/grandparent and child/siblings/extended family/guardian angels, etc etc. Most of them do a decent job of tearing up the parents and boring the kids.

Love You Forever does well to skim around the outskirts of kid-boredom whilst still managing to bring a tear to mum and dad’s eye.

The story follows the birth and life of a young lad whose mother sings a special song to him daily. Growing up and moving out of home doesn’t even stop mum from hopping on a bus across town to let herself in to her son’s flat and sing that special song to her child…

…I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be…

The basic premise of this book initially seems quite twee and the illustrations, whilst charming enough, let the storyline down; they really belong in basic school readers, not in a book centered on such emotion. The text is at times too lengthy, but what rescues this book and keeps children’s attention is the mother’s repetitive song, especially as the melody can be uniquely interpreted by either parent or child.

The other warming thing about the book is the very emotional and heart-warming ending. If you don’t at least tear up during the reading of this book, you are probably asleep – and kids always love hearing their parents’ voice crack with emotion.

Get the book, if only to see their adorable looks of concern (and/or amusement).

Title: Love You Forever
Author: Robert Munsch
Illustrator: Anthony Lewis
Publisher: Red Fox, $14.95
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 9780099266891
For ages: 4-10
Type: Picture Book