Justine Adams (text), and Laura Stitzel, (illustrator) Love you always, Affirm Press, August 2023, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922806802
This heart warming story reveals all the ways parents and pre-schoolers ‘get on each other’s quince’ as we politely put it in our household. Each spread depicts a different scenario on a typical day; first from the child’s and then the mum’s perspective. For example, when a toy is forgotten at a café, we see the child throwing a tantrum while the mum is in a frantic rush. The most moving scene is when the child is deposited in tears at preschool and Mum says: ‘When I remind us both that we can do it, and then I walk out.’ Ouch.
Luckily, each scene is accompanied by a variation on the comforting refrain: ‘I still love you, Bubby’ ‘I still love you, Mummy’.
Stitzel’s muted watercolour illustrations, chockful of detail for children to pore over, are a highlight of the book. For example, the café scene above shows the child on one corner of the street, the Mum down the road, the café attendant around the corner holding the lost toy and plenty of commuters, apartments dwellers, musicians, and pets. This fun look-and-find element brings the work of Richard Scarry to mind.
Young children are likely to find this book deeply reassuring; that no matter what ‘disasters’ befall them in a day, they’ll still have the deep love of a parent or care giver. In a lovely touch, Adams who is a mum and child physiotherapist, dedicated the book to her own mum and ‘any mum out there who has reached the end of the day feeling unsure’.
Reviewed by Heather Gallagher