Module One - Love You Forever

As an introduction to children's literature, we were to pick two children's books that adults like that are not necessarily "good" books.  One of the books I chose to read was Love You Forever, written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw.

Photo from Firefly Books, http://www.fireflybooks.com/bookdetail&ean=9780920668368

This book tells the story of a mother who rocks her child as he sleeps, singing the same lullaby each night.  A the child grows, she struggles with the mess and noise that accompany her growing boy, but even when she is frustrated with him, she continues to rock him and sing to him as he sleeps, even sneaking over to his house when he is grown to continue this tradition.  Finally the woman grows too old to visit her son, and her son must instead rock and sing to her, modifying the words of the lullaby to fit his role in the family.

I had many feelings as I read through this book.  At first I found it endearing, because what mother can't relate to feeling absolute love and frustration at the same time?  I'm not even a mother yet, but I have seen this situation played out by my family and friends many times.  As the story progressed, I found it a little disturbing that a woman would sneak into her grown son's house in the middle of the night, seemingly uninvited.  I'm sure the author means this to be comforting to children - that even though they will grow up and someday move out, their mothers will still love them and care for them just as much.  The end of the book is very sweet and did make me feel more connected to the story than I would have if it had simply ended with the woman visiting her son in the night.  I can see why this book is appealing to adults, but I would not call it a "good" book, simply because it does not feel realistic to me - a good story should always be believable, and I did not find this story to fulfill that requirement.

In the November/December 2006 issue of Instructor, teachers chose their top fifty children's books ever, and Love You Forever was given the number five spot.  The editor of Instructor said: "I can't help myself, I cry every time I read it" (Hannah Trierweiler, 2006).  This succinct review echoes many others found on bookseller's websites across the web, and underlines for me why adults are still drawn to this book despite it not being a technically "good" book.

Librarians could use this book for several activities - perhaps you could spark a discussion with mothers and children about their bedtime routines, asking them to describe or draw a picture representing their routine similar to those found in the book.  Librarians could also draw attention to the illustrations throughout a storytime by asking children how many cats they can find in the book, or what color flowers they see.

References:
Munsch, R. & McGraw S. (Ill.)  (1986).  Love you forever.  Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc.

Teachers pick the top 50 kids books ever.  (2006, November/December).  Instructor, 116(4), 25-27.  Retrieved January 20, 2013 from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23272239&site=ehost-live&scope=site.