Author: Robert Munsch
Artist: Sheila McGraw
Genre: Family / Growth / Life / Childhood / Love
Year Published: 1986
Year Read: 2017
Publisher: Firefly Books
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 4+ (Theme of Stalking, although it depends on the reader)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
I have another bookish confession to make: Even though I have been reading many of Robert Munsch’s books when I was
little, I had never once read his most highly acclaimed book “Love You Forever” and I am still
kicking myself in the rear for not reading this book sooner! “Love
You Forever” is a heartwarming story written by Robert Munsch along with artwork by Sheila McGraw that is definitely worth checking out!
The story starts off with a mother holding her newborn
baby boy in her arms and as she rocking the baby to sleep, she started singing
a little song:
“I’ll
love you forever,
I’ll
like you for always,
As
long as I’m living
My
baby you’ll be.”
We are then treated to the little boy growing up
throughout the story as he started out as a troublemaking toddler to a teenager
who likes to listen to strange music to a full grown adult man who eventually
moved out of his mother’s house. One day
however, the boy’s mother had gotten ill and…
What
will the son do about this predicament and what will happen to the mother?
Read
this book to find out!
Oh my gosh! How
in the world could I not have read this book when I was little? I mean, I had read many of Robert Munsch’s other books including “The Paper Bag Princess” and “Stephanie’s Ponytail,” but this one
seems to have fallen off the radar for me! Robert
Munsch did a fantastic job at writing this story as we get
to see how a mother witnesses the growth of her son throughout the story and how
she still loves her son no matter how different her son becomes through looks
and personalities. What made this book
extremely unique in my eyes is how we get to see the positive and negative
aspects of parenthood as while the boy occasionally got on his mother’s nerves
whenever he got into trouble, we also see that the mother still loves her son
no matter what the boy does and this aspect of the story made this book a truly
heartwarming experience for me. I also
loved the message of this book as it proves the importance of love by showing
that the mother has always cared about her son no matter how much older she got
and I think that children should read books that deals with the true meaning of
family and shows that your family will always care about you through thick and
thin. Sheila McGraw’s artwork is simply beautiful to look at as all the
characters look realistic and I loved the images of both the mother and the
little boy growing older with each progressive page. Probably my most favorite image in this book
is of the son as a toddler sitting on the bathroom floor with toilet paper littering
the floor and the boy holding a watch over the toilet!
****SPOILER
ALERT!!!!****
There is an infamous scene in this book where the
mother ends up sneaking into her son’s house, who is at this point a full grown
adult living on his own and this scene might be a bit unsettling for some
readers to handle. Now, I can
understand how this scene would be upsetting to some readers as the idea of a
grown woman sneaking inside her adult son’s house without him knowing about it would
cause a lot of uncomfortable mental images such as what if the old woman was
actually a burglar in disguised and the son had no way of knowing this because
he was asleep the whole time? For me personally, I was not really upset by
this scene as I thought that it was an exaggerated show of affection that the
mother shows her adult son and because these are fictional characters, I did
not really take this scene that seriously. Now, if the mother sneaked into an
unknown child’s bedroom late at night or someone got hurt in this scene, then I
would have felt a bit differently about this scene.
****SPOILER
ENDED!!!****
Overall, “Love
You Forever” is a truly memorable and heartwarming book that children who
wants to read books that shows the importance of love and family, will
immediately enjoy! I would recommend
this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in
this book.
Good review :)
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