Anyone who's read this book knows the words that the mother is constantly saying to her son as he's sleeping- Love You Forever, which has been making people cry since 1986, is a Canadian picture book written by Robert Munsch. Munsch wrote it after he and his wife had two stillborn babies, and one of them died from an illness. Love You Forever is the story of a mother and her son throughout the course of the boy's life; describing his exasperating behavior throughout his youth. So, I gathered 3 of my kids (ages 7, 10, & 12) around last night, and told them I wanted to get their opinion on a book. Would have loved to get the 15 year old's opinion, but he was busy sleeping off the previous night's video game marathon. You can imagine their excitement when I pulled out a baby book titled Love You Forever. The room was practically buzzing with anticipation (<---not even a little bit).

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch | Goodreads Love You Forever by Robert Munsch | Goodreads

Okay, just think about if this dad goes on to have the same behavior with his own daughter. The dad sneaking in on the teenage daughter to hold her, or later on when she's married he's climbing through her window to her bed???? And, now that I’m on this roll, I wonder what kind of message it is sending to young mothers. This woman apparently has no other identity apart from being a mom. She appears to be a single mom, because the dad is never mentioned. The only other authority figure that we hear about is the grandma. But there’s almost no substance to the mom. The story details the cycle of life by chronicling the experiences of a young son and his mother throughout the course of the boy's life and describing the frustrating behavior exhibited by him throughout his youth. Yes, the mother is saying "she'll love him forever", but what child with reasonably attentive parents doesn't already know that? The fact that the book shows it as something of a anomoly makes the child (or at least ME as a child) think there is something REAL to fear in seperation. Anyway, I know this is a long diatribe about a very short, silly, cute, cuddly children's book, but... Oh, so many women came to the register clutching the title, weeping into their sodden tissues. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now.

Love You Forever

Now, that's not to say I'm not affectionate. I hug him. Lots! <--mostly against his will b/c he's a teenager. Madam…why are you crawling? This is your house. You can stand in the doorway. Standing there would be slightly less creepy than crawling. Where It Fully Turns I know what you’re thinking: “She always did this in the middle of the night.” But I rebuke that, because there is always either one insomniac night owl or one light-sleeping nosy neighbor in any given neighborhood. Someone would have seen and said something. Obviously enough, I'm in the minority here, but this children's book is weird, creepy, disturbing and will probably give me more nightmares than any Stephen King novel ever did. I read this book way before I had kids. I was a student teacher in my first job and I had never read it before. I can't tell you what a rookie mistake that was!!

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw - Waterstones Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw - Waterstones

When the son first arrives, his mother tries to sing her lullaby to him, but she is too weak to finish. The son then cradles his mother in his arms and sings the lullaby for her in reciprocation for the unconditional love that she had shown him throughout his life, changing the last line to "my mommy you'll be." Lccn 86094624 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL22948351M Openlibrary_editionFor a long time it was just a song but one day, while telling stories at a big theatre at the University of Guelph, it occurred to me that I might be able to make a story around the song. Moment of Silence: When the son arrives home after his mother dies (or possibly when she's very close to death), he stands at the top of the stairway in silence for a long time. This is one reason readers interpret that the mother passed away. This is by far my absolute favorite book to read to or with my children. The first time, I could barely get through it, I cried so hard! Because of their experience of losing children, and the beauty of being able to adopt and love two, they always wanted them to know how much they were loved…

LOVE YOU FOREVER…Sweet or Creepy? - BOOK RIOT LOVE YOU FOREVER…Sweet or Creepy? - BOOK RIOT

The overall general creepiness is another reason I didn't like this book. I realize that the mother sneaking into her grown son's house via a ladder is supposed to be kind of funny (at least I hope it is), but it is still creepy and weird! Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.Informed Attribute: The son is described as "great big" as a teenager and a grown man, but he seems to be about average size. It's implied that he's described this way because it's the way the mother sees him, compared to the tiny baby he used to be. i broke this out last night to read to my son (who is now almost 3) and while the story is still touching, it's a little creepy when the mom drives across town - in the middle of the night - to hold her 40 year old son on her lap and sing to him. hmm??? did his wife find that okay? cause that would warrant a serious conversation, possibly the delivery of some divorce papers. "look honey, I know your mom loves you and all, but there comes a time when you need to, ya know, cut the cord." My regular publisher felt that it was not really a kid’s book and I ended up doing it with another publisher. I chose to read this book with what it was trying to get across and not literally. It is a weird book to take literally, which could be weird for a child reading it that takes things literally. It might scare the crap out of them. If you take the story as how irritating children are and you love them anyway, no matter what, then it is a great book. I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: As a teen, the man wore "strange clothes". The outfit we see him wearing is a large shirt with sunflowers on it, jeans, and ladies' shoes.