I Love You as Much... by Laura Krauss Melmed, Henri Sorensen (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Celebrate Mother's Day every day. This celebration of the bond between mothers and their babies can be shared at naptime or bedtime or whenever it is time to say "I love you."

"Written in quatrains that break into couplets across each double page, this lullaby rhyme catalogues various animals and their offspring, describing each mother's testament of love." School Library Journal.

"The light-drenched, golden-toned pictures exert a quietly hypnotic effect on both reader and listener, aided by the lullaby's sonorous repetition of each mother animal's love poem to her baby." New York Times

Marilyn Courtot - Children's Literature

The tender connection between mother and child is universal. Here it is warmly expressed in beautiful paintings that spread across two pages. Each features an animal mother and her offspring (a horse and her colt, a bear and her cub, a goose and her gosling, etc.). It ends with a human mother gently urging her little one to go to sleep. The quiet rhyming verse expresses the mother's love for her child and the soft expressive pictures are a visual delight. This children's picture book really makes a nice transition to a picture book lap edition (large format board book) and would be a lovely addition to any baby's book collection. 2002 (orig. 1993), HarperFestival,

Children's Literature

The author celebrates the bond between mothers and their babies in I Love You as Much. Henri Sorenson's luminous portraits of mother animals and their little ones beautifully complement Melmed's lullaby, which ends with a human mother softly saying, "Now sleep, child of mine, while the stars shine above.../I love you as much as a mother can love."

Children's Literature

The tender connection between mother and child is universal. Here it is warmly expressed in beautiful paintings that spread across two pages. Each features an animal mother and her offspring. Gentle rhyming verse expresses the mother's love for her child and the soft expressive pictures are a visual delight. This children's picture book really makes a nice transition to board book form.

Children's Literature

The tender connection between mother and child is universal. Here it is lovingly expressed in enchanting nature paintings spread across two pages. They feature a mother and baby from the animal kingdom, snuggling in their natural environment. Simple couplets offer each mom's expression of the depth of love for her child. Soft as a lullaby, this is a classic children's book, to be treasured and remembered.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Written in quatrains that break into couplets across each double page, this lullaby rhyme catalogues various animals and their offspring, describing each mother's testament of love. The mountain nanny goat says, "`I love you as much as the mountain is steep'"; the camel says, "`I love you as much as the desert is dry.'" The book ends with a full quatrain of love poetry from a woman to her newborn child. Sorensen's paintings are large and bright, spanning double-page spreads and extending to the edge of each page, with full backgrounds and panoramic views that enhance the animal characters. The deep tones, well-lit landscapes (which contrast effectively with the darkness of the final picture), and the multiple layers of opaque paint suggest a formality of portraiture that is not usually seen in children's books. The text, which is discretely tucked away in the corners of the pages where it does not interrupt the effect of the illustration, is set in a decorative italic font. The potential for sentimentality is certainly present, but Melmed carefully avoids the cute and tearful. While reading this book is certainly a satisfying experience, full of pathos and meaning for parents, it's likely to appeal more to them than to their children.-Ruth K. MacDonald, Quinnipiac College, Hamden, CT

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