I was recently given an opportunity to review a children’s book. I have some pretty strong opinions about children’s books, over some pretty silly things~like font, so I was excited to have an chance to share my thoughts on “I Love You More” by Laura Duksta. The book arrived last week, Thursday I think, and we immediately curled up on the couch to read.
This is quite possibly the sweetest, most ingenuitive children’s book I have read in a long time. It is about a little boy and his mommy and their discussion about how much they loved each other. Sammy was fascinated by the books “double” feature! You read the book, to the middle, about how much the little boy loves his mom. Then flip it over and read it from her perspective. We read it twice that day, again the next day, and when she asked to read it again I told her she would have to read it to me. To my surprise- she did read it! Almost all of it, entirely by herself! Sammy was so excited that she read it to her Daddy when he returned from work. He usually has no opinion on things like this, but this time he pulled on my sleeve when I walked by and said “hey, that was a really good book, where did you get it from?”
There are two points about this book that I absolutely love:
1. It helps my girls visualize my love. We talk about love all the time, how I love them, how Jesus loves them, how their Daddy loves them. I have taught them the “I love you thiiiiiiis much and this much too much” phrase I grew up with. But this book puts it into a child’s perspective, uses visual references that they can understand, for example:
“I love you longer than the longest lollipop ever lasted.”
2. As a homeschooling mom I am always looking for ways to teach… I now have an easy way to work on size adjectives with them. Tall, taller, tallest. Long, longer, longest. Loud, louder, loudest.
Jolene is only three, and while she enjoyed the story (the part of it she sat still for), her favorite was the illustrations (by Karen Kessler). The giraffe page caused an immediate halt in all reading while we recalled our trip to the zoo. Ms. Kessler had drawn her giraffe with his tongue sticking out. Jo immediately noticed and we had to discuss how “gross” momma had said the giraffe tongue was at the zoo. (It was pretty nasty, because the giraffe didn’t really lick you, he just kind of pressed his tongue into your hand so the food would stick to it… YUCK!) We also had wonderful conversations on the frog page!
You can find more information about Laura, Karen and this wonderful book here!
Oh, in case you’re wondering, the font is big and easy to read. My only problem with this book, is that we can’t stop reading it.
