Love You Forever Reviews

• A Beautiful, Touching Parable

  
  By A110LO9AG0AV65 on 2001-02-03
  This little classic is readily and easily digested by one who has known the true love of a mother. My mother gave me this book during the first Christmas with my new baby daughter in 1992. I had no idea that within the year, my father would be gone, and I would begin to give tender care to my precious little mother who would begin "getting very sick" much like the mother in the book. I cried a bucket of tears as I read it aloud with my wife, mother and father for the very first time. When my mom passed on, it was a tender and precious time at her bedside, and very reminiscent of this tender little book.

  Today, my two girls go for it regularly on my shelf at bedtime. They tease me because I can't get through it without crying. Funny to me that they have a very good grasp of allegory and they, unlike some of the book's critics, understand that the scenes with the mother coming to the man's apartment are actually his memories of her love. They understand, as I explain to them that the love poured into the son by his mother, has taught him how to love his new baby daughter at the end.

  Love begets love, and this little childrens' parable is a powerful reminder! I highly recommend _Love You Forever_ to anyone who enjoyed a wonderful love with their mother. To others, I'm sorry but you simply won't (and obviously don't) understand. It's not written for you.
  
  

• Love You Forever is a Great Book. 10 Stars!

  
  By A3DHHQ2NGXOUAH on 2004-04-27
  I read this book so many times to my children when they were small, they loved it each time, as it showed them the stages of life in a poignant and beautiful manner. I never cried from this book, and neither did my children, although I did get choked up, with moist eyes. It also brought about more of a loving bond, that shows the circle of life, and how important unconditional love is between a parent and child.
  I highly recommend reading this book to a your child. It will show how much love there is, and how it endures "forever."
  
  

• The Underlying Creepiness Makes For A Sick Book

  
  By A2HGCSCDMLTB4T on 2001-02-15
  On the surface, it's a really sweet book about a mother who really loves her baby boy as he grows to manhood, no matter how goofy or annoying he may be in the process. Periodically she visits him and sings the song.If it were just that, it'd be an all time classic. But it takes the simple concept to disturbing extremes that have to be seen to be believed. Anyone who's had a baby in their family knows there's nothing cuter than looking at them while they're sleeping. The mother in the book knows this and sneaks into his room at night to peek at her angel, and sing her little song to him. Nothing wrong with that, right?

  Only it doesn't stop there. When the boy is a teenager she CRAWLS into his room on all fours and, "If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth" while she sang her song. I don't know about you but if I was 15 and woke up in my bed with my Mom holding me like that, I'd probably scream. Who knows what kind of weird dreams this poor boy was having?

  Well at least when this poor lad moves out of the house, he won't have to deal with his mother's obsessive habits anymore...or does he? Yep, once he's full grown, according to the book, "...sometimes on dark nights his mother got into her car and drove across town." YIKES! Not only is that scarier than hell that she's driving with a ladder strapped to her car in the middle of the night, but she makes a regular habit of it. Mommy climbs up his house, crawls through his window and does the same thing. Man this guy sleeps better than anyone I've ever known! Well, you can see by looking at this small single bed that he never got married. And he had such a healthy upbringing, too.

  Though the book takes a poignant dramatic turn when he hears his mother isn't doing well and he goes to visit her. As he holds his dying mother in his lap, he turns the tables and sings the song to her. But wait a minute! I thought he was asleep during all those other times. Looks like he was playing along with this little sick little game a little too eagerly. At this point, you feel bad for making fun of the book at all 'cause his mother has passed away. The son returns home, though, and picks up his baby girl and sings the song to her.

  But from everything we've seen in the book, the guy lives alone. The only woman he ever sees at night is his Mom. Leaving the only possible mother of his child to be...OH MY GOD!!!

  If you still think this book is sweet and that I'm missing the true spirit of LOVE YOU FOREVER, just switch the genders of the characters in this story and tell me that wouldn't be extra creepy.
  
  

• A great book for your kids or your mom

  
  By A11AU06UJMVNTD on 2000-06-13
  This is another one of those books I can't read without having to dab at my eyes. Any loving parent, or child of a loving parent, will recognize the overwhelming love the mother in this story feels for her son. When her son is a newborn, she rocks him and sings to him, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." When he's asleep, she rocks him and sings him that song through each stage of his childhood. When he's a grown man with his own home, she drives over to his house with a ladder, makes sure he is fast asleep, climbs through his bedroom window, then rocks him and sings to him (my husband thinks this is a little strange, but I'm convinced that there are plenty of mothers out there who would do the same if they thought they could get away with it).

  The tears come when the mother gets sick, and can't finish the song. Her son then holds her in his lap, rocks her, and sings to her. Then he goes home, picks up his newborn daughter, and sings. The illustrations are a beautiful complement to the story. Not only does the son grow up, but the mother slowly grows older. Her house keeps its old-fashioned look, even down to the rotary phone on her bedside; his house is more modern, with up-to-date kitchen appliances. The mother has a striped cat that appears in several illustrations of the boy growing up. In his house, there is a kitten, that grows into a cat, that turns into a rather large, well-fed cat by the end of the story.

  Not only am I sharing this book with my kids, but I gave my mom a copy for Mother's Day.
  
  

• Read it to my daughter once and never again

  
  By on 2004-06-12
  I can understand why many adults find this book appealing. I myself had bought it, not so much thinking about my children, but my own aging parents. So mea culpa for bringing it into the house in the first place.

  One night at bedtime, my five year old chose it for her bedtime story. When I'd finished, she burst into tears and sobbed "I don't want you to die!" My heart just sank.

  If you find the premise of the book touching, that makes sense. You are a grown up and understand the cycle of life and love that the book speaks to. I think it is way to heavy for children.

  If you want stories about unconditional love, try "Do You Know How Much I Love You" or "Mama, Do You Love Me?"

  If you want a book about ilness and death of a loved one, try "Nana Upstairs Nana Downstairs" by Tommy DePaola.

  This book too closely links love and loss in a way that is not healthy for children.
  
  

• unsettling
  By on 2004-06-07
  I recently found this book on one of our bookshelves. As it turns out, my MIL gave it to my husband when he was in his mid-20s. My MIL has always been too intrusive and clingy with my husband and this situation says EVERYTHING about this book.

  There are a world of books out there that depict the bond between parent and child so much better than this book, ones without a creepy aftertaste.

  I understand the idea of unconditional love, but this book really unnerves me. I even asked my husband what he thought about it. Turns out, he is really disturbed by the image of the mother who cannot and will not let her son grow up and who slinks into his life.

  So why does he still have the book? Because of warm feelings about his mom? No. Because it makes him feel loved? No. Because he wants us to have it for our son? NO! He says he would feel really guilty about getting rid of it although it disturbs him.

  So this book lives in our house thick with feelings of unease and guilt. Yeah, that sounds like a good children's book.
  
  

• creepy...
  By A1GGK57NMIYFG2 on 2003-10-24
  After seeing that negative reviews of this book get uniformly labeled as unhelpful, I'm taking the plunge anyway - if you're looking for an illustration of unconditional love, stick to "Guess How Much I Love You"...

  I found the image of the mother who (w/c)ouldn't let go, sneaking into her adult son's bedroom (into his bed!), well, disturbing.

  The cycle starts all over again in the last page, with the father crooning to his infant daughter that he'll "...love her forever and always...", instantly bringing to my mind the image of him also creeping unbidden into his adult daughter's bed, just as his mother did with him.

  I understand the intent, but I found it pushed a button that I wasn't even aware I had.
  
  

• I think this book scarred me for life as a child
  By A3EGJE1SPZEAPK on 2005-03-01
  My Mom used to read this book to me as a child. I am 19 now, almost 20. I believe that this book contributed to my early anxiety about death. I can remember my Mom reading this to me when I was younger, and afterwards, there would usually be tears in her eyes because she found it so sweet and touching. I, on the other hand, hated this book. It made me sad and scared about getting old and having my Mom and Dad get old as well. Eventually, I asked my Mom to stop reading it to me.
  
  For most of my childhood, I was scared of my parents dying. I also had a lot of anxiety about growing up, even at the tender age of 9. I remember crying myself to sleep the night before I turned 10 years old because I knew that after that night, I would no longer be a 1-digit age, but a 2 and maybe even a 3-digit age number. I didn't want to get older because I knew that someday I would die, but I had an even greater fear about my parents dying. I contribute some of this to this book, "Love You Forever" by Robert N. Munsch. Of course I can't blame all of that fear of death to this book, but when I think back on my childhood and the things that emotionally impacted me the most negatively, this book always comes to mind. I think there are so many other better childrens books out there that convey the love between a Mother and her child much better than this depressing and often creepy book does!
  
  
• Not Creepy, or a symbol for incest
  By AI9UI3CBFVAWP on 2002-04-24
  Those of you who came out of the reading of this book with ideas that it is creepy or otherwise dealing with incest are simply wrong. This book is obviously a children's book, and as a child having it read to me, I felt it was a powerful message about love. Now as a teenager and perfectly capable of jumping to such SICK conclusions as incest, I never have and never wpould have until I read some of the reviews here online. I believe this book to be quite touching, about the depth of a parent's love for a child who isn't perfect. A child having this book read to them simply understands that if they make mistakes, their parents will still love them. Only an adult with a sick or demented mind would jump to the idea that the relationship the mother has with her son is somehow "creepy". Get a life, people, and pull your minds out of the gutter. I love this book.
  
  
• ----- HUMOROUS and MOWING -----
  By on 2007-12-05
  
  'Love You Forever' is perhaps the most touching book I have ever read. The story is warm, humorous and quite moving. The illustrations are beautiful and add to the depth of the story. I highly recommend this book to anyone. Be warned that it will bring tears to your eyes and a lump to your throat as you read it for the first time. At other times it will make you roll over laughing... The illustrations are delightful. Anyone will feel that this story is about them. My other recommendation is a series of three books titled Why Some Cats are Rascals, Book 2
  
  
  
• Moving Story about Loving Your Child
  By on 1999-12-14
  This is a fantastic picture book that is a metaphor for the overwhelming love one feels for their child (no matter what age). For all of those readers who can only read in co-dependent, Oedipal, or Freudian themes into this book, you have missed the entire point and have hearts of stone! The fact is that the author Robert Munsch wrote this book as a tribute to his TWO still-born children and that makes this story even more moving especially if you've lost a child or had a miscarriage. The story is an expression of imagining his kids and what they would have been like and how much he would have loved them their whole lives. I found this to be a very emotional and touching story (and I am not a sentimental woman at all). My 3-year-old, rough and tumble, only-loves-the-outside-and-trucks kind of boy really likes this story and has been requesting it for bedtime almost every night. He especially enjoys the verse that is the theme of the book, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as you're living, my baby you'll be." My son wants to hear us say that to him. And again to all those who wrote and thought that this book was "sick"; face it, you might not have liked how this book was portrayed, but you'll love your kids forever, no matter how old they'll get, and in spite of what they will do throughout the phases of their lives that might frustrate you. In fact, my husband likes this story so much that he plans to get it for his mother for Mother's Day. This is a must-have children's book!
  
  
• Creepy and overly sentimental
  By A2SQP2V863CW0Z on 2004-11-24
  The book starts out sweet, but becomes very odd as the characters age. It has a geriatric mother climbing in the window of her adult son to rock him to sleep. The first time I read this book to my daughter I cried at the manipulative ending. This frightend my daughter so much that she never wanted to hear the book again. It's too weird and too sentimental. I accidentally picked up a halloween book by the same author that also had a very bizarre plot. I think he's a little off.
  
  
• This book is weird
  By on 2004-06-26
  I thought this book was VERY strange. I do not like reading books that show kids doing "bad behaviors", I don't want to give my 3yo any ideas. And although I won't go so far as to say incest, this book did have stalker tendancies. I'm sorry it IS creepy to have a mother drive across town to sneak into her adult son's bedroom in the middle of the night to rock him to sleep.
  I was NOT happy with this book at all.
  
  
• Horrifying, creepy and unhealthy book
  By ALSB1DXPBMPJ2 on 2004-06-29
  This book is the worst children's book I've ever read, and I find it scary that some people have adored it and read it repeatedly to their kids. The mom in the book has no dignity or self-respect; her whole pathetic life revolves around her kid, even when he is an adult.

  PLEASE don't buy this book without reading through it first. It's NOT a healthy story or representation of a monther/child relationship.
  
  

• A disturbing look at child molesting.
  By on 2002-05-18
  From HAROLD and THE PURPLE CRAYON to ONE FISH TWO FISH RED FISH BLUE FISH, we've all had our share of crazy kids books read to us growing up. From the "stay out of trouble" morals of THE POKEY LITTLE PUPPY to the "shut up and eat your dinner" message of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, you might even learn a thing or two while you're at it. But after reading through LOVE YOU FOREVER by Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw, I have to say that it's one of the creepiest kids books I've ever seen.

  Published in 1986, it's a fairly modern kids book, but with over 50 printings in the last 15 years, there's obviously millions of homes that have this mind bending tome within.

  On the surface, it's a really sweet book about a mother who really loves her baby boy as he grows to manhood, no matter how goofy or annoying he may be in the process. Periodically she visits him and sings the song:

  "I'll love you forever,
  I'll like you for always,
  As long as I'm living
  my baby you'll be."

  If it were just that, it'd be an all time classic. But it takes the simple concept to disturbing extremes that have to be seen to be believed.

  Anyone who's had a baby in their family knows there's nothing cuter than looking at them while they're sleeping. The mother in the book knows this and sneaks into his room at night to peek at her angel, and sing her little song to him. Nothing wrong with that, right?

  Only it doesn't stop there. When the boy is a teenager she CRAWLS into his room on all fours and, "If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth" while she sang her song. I don't know about you but if I was 15 and woke up in my bed with my Mom holding me like that, I'd probably scream. Who knows what kind of weird dreams this poor boy was having?

  Well at least when this poor lad moves out of the house, he won't have to deal with his mother's obsessive habits anymore...or does he? Yep, once he's full grown, according to the book, "...sometimes on dark nights his mother got into her car and drove across town." YIKES! Not only is that scarier than hell that she's driving with a ladder strapped to her car in the middle of the night, but she makes a regular habit of it.

  Yep, ol' Mommy climbs up his house, crawls through his window and does the same thing. Man this guy sleeps better than anyone I've ever known! Well, you can see by looking at this small single bed that he never got married. And he had such a healthy upbringing, too. It's a shame!

  Though the book takes a poignant dramatic turn when he hears his mother isn't doing well and he goes to visit her. As he holds his dying mother in his lap, he turns the tables and sings the song to her. But wait a minute! I thought he was asleep during all those other times. Looks like he was playing along with this little sick little game a little too eagerly.

  At this point, you feel bad for making fun of the book at all 'cause his mother has passed away. The son returns home, though, and picks up his baby girl and sings the song to her.

  But from everything we've seen in the book, the guy lives alone. The only woman he ever sees at night is his Mom. Leaving the only possible mother of his child to be...OH MY GOD!!!

  Let's all cross our fingers and pray we don't see the sequel to this book.

  If you still think this book is sweet and that I'm missing the true spirit of LOVE YOU FOREVER, just switch the genders of the characters in this story and tell me that wouldn't be extra creepy.
  
  

• CREEPY BOOK!
  By A33JGP7NR4BV8W on 2003-10-29
  if you think it's not very very strange that a mother would climb in the window of her grown son's house, pull him out from bed with his wife and rock him like a baby, then you might enjoy this book.
  
  
• I will love this book never and hate it for always
  By A15FORD4K9C0VC on 2004-04-14
  Um, gross? This book was not cute nor was it heart warming. It was slimy, creepy and just seemed wrong. I understand what the author was trying to make the audience see/feel. Really I do. But it in my opinon, got way exaggerated and over the top. A woman sings to her infant baby and rocks him to sleep every night. How cute. But she continues to do this into his teenage years where she then CRAWLS into his room on all fours in the darkness and either stares at him for God only knows how long, or takes it a step further by slithering into his bed and rocking him to sleep. As if that isnt bad enough, when the son is a 30 something year old man living in his own home, mommy dearest drives across town in the middle of the night with a ladder tied to her car. She then puts the ladder against the house and climbs up into her adult son's bedroom through the window and once again climbs into bed and rocks him in her arms. Then the tables turn when mother is ill and can no longer stalk her "baby boy" So then he visits his mother and holds HER on HIS lap and cradles her and sings to her. Then he goes home and picks up his infant daughter and sings that same song to her. Nooo the nightmare continues!! Honestly, at this point I dont care what Robert Munsch's intentions were. It was poorly executed and left me feeling yucky. This mother had some serious "letting go" issues and the son maybe was more of a wacko for allowing his mother to do this to him nightly. I know that childrens books are more about metaphors and are not to be taken literally. Its possible that my adult mind is too cynical to appreciate this book, but I see that I am not alone in feeling this way. The sweet and potentially endearing message was just blurred by the disturbing, obsessive, creepy tale of mother and son.
  
  If there are people who disagree with the creepy factor of the book thats fine. But still, its not a good book for children. I think its rather dark and is probably unpleasant for young children to have to think of the demise of their parents one day right before bed time. All people who read this who enjoyed it said it tugged at their heart strings and makes them weep every time. Do children really need to feel that kind of sadness or see their parents weeping everytime this story is read to them? No they dont. Read them goodnight moon or something. Skip this for sure. Death is a fact of life, but its not something that a 2-7 years old should have to worry about (since that is the age group that this book is supposed to appeal to) The message of unconditional love is so much better expressed in so many other childrens books. This one is just unsettling and wrong. The message that I got from this was less "I'll love you forever" and more "It's okay to stalk the ones you love" It's subliminally teaching kids to become clingy,dependent,desperate and creepy adults. Okay, thats a bit fetched, but so what? So was this book.
  
  Skim through the reviews. There is barely any middle ground. People either LOVE it or HATE it. I apparently hated it because I could not get past the undeniable creepy factor. I guarantee that if this book was turned into a movie, less people would find it heart warming and charming. It would probably fall under the "horror" genre rather than "family entertainment" Maybe then more people would understand why so many of us are utterly turned off by this story.
  
  
• Well-meaning, but *Definitely Creepy and Wrong*
  By ADNO43OB2CXNK on 2004-01-14
  Picture this. You are a 30 year old man. You work and own your own home. You have a child of your own, but are not married. One night, while fast asleep, an intruder sneaks in through your bedroom window. It's YOUR MOM! She slithers across the bedroom floor and slips into your bed. WHAT!? You must have taken way too much No-Doz that night, because she proceeds to cuddle you in her arms and sing to you as if you are a baby, while not even waking you. Is this author on acid? Is this author from some strange foreign land, not having the slightest idea about American culture? To any sane adult (presumably the person reading this book aloud to their child) the notion of Mom breaking into the house late at night and playing out this young mother/infant scenario with your unconscious body is downright creepy and disturbing. When I first read this book and got to that part, my jaw dropped open in disbelief that anyone would try to pass this off as an endearing and completely normal event.
  
  
• A disturbing book
  By on 1999-10-07
  I was fine until I found the mother crawling across the floor of her son's room at night. And when she began driving across town to climb into his window at night, I wondered if I was the only one who found this a rather unhealthy image. I think you can teach unconditional love without the undertones of ownership and dysfunctional attachments. I think most people just pretend the mother crawling across the floor section doesn't exist---however, I couldn't ignore it, so I won't be buying this book for any child.
  
  
• Not in the "love it forever" crowd....
  By on 2003-03-30
  The fact of the matter is there are two types of crowds for this book: You either love it or hate it. I fall in the latter group for many reasons. The people who love it will love it forever. Others, like me, will never "get it". NEVER.

  First of all the art is ugly. There I've said it. It's just downright poorly done. Enlarge the cover and see for yourself! That child looks scary, not cute. But that's the least of this books downfalls.

  Secondly the mother is, as other reviewers pointed out, weirdly obsessive and downright creepy in her devotion to her son. She crawls across his floor when he's a teenager and stalks him as an adult. Ew. It's just really bizarre. Sappy is one word for it, but there are other words for it as well...like psychotic.

  Now, I'm not saying that the people who like this are insane. They fell for the "awww...parents are so giving and loving" line the book dishes out. But there are less disturbing and better illustrated books out there to buy! Runaway Bunny for starters or Guess How Much I Love You (SO MUCH BETTER).

  The theme is one of the most common in children's literature. There are more healthy approaches to the topic in my opinion. This book is wildly popular. But that doesn't mean it's any good.
  
  

• Also found this book creepy
  By ALQC1QNMTGGZS on 2005-05-05
  We received this as a gift and I just broke it out recently at bedtime. It seemed sweet enough but when the mom continues to crawl across the room at night and take her teenager into her arms - I thought, huh?!? Then when she drives across town with a ladder to sneak into her grown son's room to do the same thing? I think this one will go into the donate pile unfortunately - it's just too weird for my taste.
  
  
• Sorry, this book is going in the trash
  By A1M084QDQUQBDS on 2004-10-09
  I've read many of the other reviews and I am shocked at the positive comments. The first time I read this to my son it creeped me out. The idea of the mother sneaking into her grown son's house at night...through a window! The illustration of the car with the ladder on top driving over in the middle of the night. If she hadn't crawled around the floor, or maybe if she sang the song to her grown son while she was just over visiting, or maybe if she just stroked his hair rather than picking him up bodily. I'm all for unconditional love...but yikes. This is going into the trash.
  
  
• I also found this story strange. . .
  By A1SK3L2IQLYA8S on 2004-12-08
  I read this book at a bookstore and decided not to purchase it. While I appreciate the unconditional love the mother has for her son, I found it disturbing that she would drive across town and crawl into his window to rock him while he slept, etc. I also found those illustrations bizarre. I don't think it's suitable for a child - what four year old wants to hear about his sick mother? It's more suited to touch the emotions of the reader than the listener. Perhaps an older child (teenager) would appreciate it.
  
  
• got it as a gift -- am throwing it away
  By A31P038JW92CQ9 on 2004-03-20
  My initial reaction to reading this book, the night of my baby shower, is 'what were they THINKING???' -- both the author and my girlfriend who gave this to me. There are other ways to show your love as a mother to your grown child rather than driving across town, using a LADDER no less to then SNEAK into your grown son's window to then rock him and sing to him. I'm sorry folks, but those of you who say this is okay are fooling yourselves. This is inappropriate, to say the very least, and doesn't belong in a children's book. The concept could have easily been presented in another manner and the book's message remain intact. Additionally, I dare to say that the issue of a parent's death is definitely not one I'd like to present to my daughter before bedtime. I disliked this book so much it went into the trash. There's too many wonderful children's books out there that present parents' unconditional love for their children without this weirdness.
  
  
• Little obsessive are we?
  By A1PNQ5XQN95QUC on 2005-02-14
  Let me ask you a couple of things:
  1.How would you feel about your mother sneaking into your room on her hands and knees and watching you sleep and then cuddling you like a baby when you are a teenager? "My mom gives me reassuring hugs" - ok. "My mom rocks me to sleep and sneaks into my room" - wimpy and creepy
  
  2. You are about 25 yrs old. Do you think it's normal for your mother to drive out to your house with a ladder, sneak into your room via burglar style, stare at you and continue to rock you to sleep? There must've been a reason for you moving out of your house in the first place right? So she is coming back every night and has to climb through the window as opposed to the door because....why?
  
  3. Aren't there less-obsessive ways to show your kids you love them rather than scaring them into thinking you will always be there - ALWAYS.....no matter what? Why not just tell your kids "You can run.....but you can't hide....*evil-mom smile*"
  
  Enough said.
  
  
  
  
• Have to agree with creepy!
  By A7DYUQUZM3E on 2005-07-06
  I love the repeating mantra of this book, but dislike the application. Surely there is a way to communicate this without having dear old mother sneak into your house every night while you're asleep! I get where the book is going, I just didn't like the journey.
  
  
• What a Sapfest
  By A2KVNUY24AF3B6 on 2005-10-03
  This book is about a mother who doesn't realize her bouncing baby boy grew up into a man and has no identify other than her role as a mother. To think this womam rocked her teenage son with a nursery rhyme is creepy. To think this woman climbed into her grown son's home and into his bed to rock him to sleep borders on pyschotic and incestual. If my MIL tried climbing through our windows, she would be taken for a burglar and shot.
  
  This is a mother who clearly needed someone to shake her by the shoulders and advise the umbilical cord to her child was severed many moons ago.
  
  
• Not a little bit disturbing
  By A3G22Z4RJRXZ7F on 2001-07-29
  I know myself to be in the minority on this one, but this book has given me the willies ever since I first discovered it while working in a children's bookstore. Unlike 'The Runaway Bunny', a book which comforts children in an age-appropriate and metaphorical way, 'Love You Forever' seems to be written to comfort parents. The book only details the negative things that the son does, seemingly implies that the mother loves him 'anyway'. The pictures are distinctly odd, giving one the impression that the illustrator has never looked on a living teenager. While the idea that a mother loves her son no matter what he does is very sweet and comforting, the idea of an old lady driving across town with a ladder strapped to her car in order to climb into her grown son's window is not. There is no father in this book, making the obvious Freudian assumptions a little too real for comfort. Books like 'Guess How Much I Love You?' and 'Emma Bean' show just as much love, but in a gentler, more subtle way that I think children can appreciate better than the literal message of unconditional love of in 'Love You Forever'. Although I've had this book recommended to me many a time since my son was born, I think I'll stick to books that both of us are comfortable with.
  
  
• A children's story of a mentally ill woman...
  By A1QO5A7RX59Z1F on 2002-09-15
  Probably the worst book for children I've ever read.
  I always look at a book with an open mind, but I just can't ignore the fact - this book is horrible. It is the story of a compulsive, obsessive woman in need of some serious psychiatric help. Clothed as a sappy children's story, it is about a woman who tells her child repeatedly how much she loves him, and forever, over and over again, instead of showing him with loving actions. As he grows up, she still rocks him to sleep as if he is a baby. What teenager would let his mother SNEAK into his room at night to rock him to sleep? Well, it doesn't end there, because after he moves on, and gets married and has children of his own, she sneaks into his house while everyone is asleep, crawls across the floor, and pulls him out of bed to rock him to sleep! To prove she loves him? Is this what love is? Is this what you want your children to think love is? A healthy loving mother grows with the child to build a new adult relationship with her child, as friend, mentor and parent. Her son in the end perpetuates this behavior with his own child, showing the only redeeming value of this book - demonstrating how sick behavior is passed on from one generation to the next. This story is totally inappropriate for children...as is most of Robert Munich's other books..
  
  
• Creepy Incestuous Metaphor
  By A2WWYIGVN2P5X0 on 2004-08-03
  I received this book as a gift prior to having my daughter. I would throw it away, but feel bad doing so because it was a gift. Right now it is hanging in my office at work and is used to make jokes about it. People that come in say throw it away! It is so creepy it is gross. Yes, the illustrations represent the story line, but that is not a good thing. The first page is cute, then as he gets older, the mother on her hands and knees crawls over and peeks at her son (on one page of her doing this, it looks like she has on white gloves like she is going to do something) and waits until he is alseep and if he is "really" asleep she will pick him up and sing to him. This goes on every night, until he is an adult. One graphic at night she attaches a ladder to the car and drives across town. She puts the ladder to his window and climbs up to make sure he is really asleep, and if he was she would pick him up and sing to him. He is roughly 40 years old and she is climbing into his window and picking him up! In the picture the cat looks like it is trying to escape the sickness that is going on. Finally, the mother isn't well and he goes to her home and picks her up and sings to her. The last page, he does this to his son.
  This is a creepy book. This mother not only needed to "cut the apron strings", but check into the nearest mental hospital.
  
  

• Goodnight Moon
• Guess How Much I Love You
• The Giving Tree
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Where the Wild Things Are