I Love You as Much as a Completed Blog Post
It’s pretty easy to find a book Abbie will enjoy. If a book has flaps to lift, she’ll love flipping through the pages as many as three times before permanently lifting every flap off the page, and then she’ll love reading it without having to go through the hassle of lifting the flaps every time. If a book tells a story with short sentences and bright pictures, she’ll love listening to daddy recite the story while flipping the pages one step ahead of me just to see if I have the book memorized yet. If a book shows pictures of objects organized by groups like things that are red, things that begin with “X,”* or things you wear, she’ll love flipping through the book at random so daddy has to look at the book instead of reading his newspaper while regurgitating the text from memory.
I never know which books will become her favorites, though; the ones that she’ll ask me to read over and over no matter how badly worn the binding is, pinching if necessary to draw my attention away from feeding her brothers. One of her current favorites is “I Love You As Much…” This book features soft watercolor drawings of various mother and child animal pairs with accompanying text comparing the mother’s love to immeasurable concept, saying I love you as much as the forest has trees, the desert is dry, or the sound made by one hand clapping. It’s cute in a Zen sort of way.
I don’t know why she chose it as a favorite. With its soft images and gentle text, it’s a soothing book, and she may enjoy the change of pace from the rest of her life that consists mostly of looking for things to eat or bounce on. It repeats the words “I love you” a lot, and she likely enjoys hearing that phrase at least as often as she hears “no, Abbie.” Then there are two of the last pages that state the mother loves as much as “the mountain is steep” and “the ocean is deep.” For some reason, she giggles whenever I make an “eep” sound, possibly because I poke her at every utterance.
I have a couple problems with the book, though. First, some of the comparisons are a bit odd. For example, the mother goat that loves her child as much as “the grass on the hill.” Does she mean there’re an infinite number of blades of grass on the hill, just like her infinite love? That’s touching. Or does she mean she loves her daughter as much as she enjoys eating the grass on a hill? That’s less touching, but probably more suited to a goat’s thought process. Or does she mean that the grass also loves her child, and her love is at least equivalent to that of the grass? That sounds like the authors love the grass a bit too much, if you catch my drift. There are other weird comparisons. Don’t get me started on the superficiality of the mother horse that loves her child as much as “a warm summer breeze.”
Second, I feel funny reading a book that focuses exclusively on a mother’s love. Not once does the book talk about a father’s love. That’s great that the mother mouse loves her child as much as the grain in the mill, but where’s the father mouse? Standing lookout for the mother owl that loves her child as much as a warm meal? I could substitute “father” for “mother” on a few pages to add a few words about a father’s love, but Abbie is having enough problems with language without having to figure out why the word “mother” is pronounced “father.” For this reason, I don’t like speaking words that are different from the printed text, unless I need to fix grammar for some reason, probably because Cookie Monster says something.
Otherwise it’s a good book. The pictures keep her attention. The words move fast enough for her to appreciate. The text is simple enough for me to memorize so I can continue reading my newspaper while “reading” to her.
* “Xylophone” and “x-ray” are the only members of this group, at least until someone figures out what “xenon” looks like.
I never know which books will become her favorites, though; the ones that she’ll ask me to read over and over no matter how badly worn the binding is, pinching if necessary to draw my attention away from feeding her brothers. One of her current favorites is “I Love You As Much…” This book features soft watercolor drawings of various mother and child animal pairs with accompanying text comparing the mother’s love to immeasurable concept, saying I love you as much as the forest has trees, the desert is dry, or the sound made by one hand clapping. It’s cute in a Zen sort of way.
I don’t know why she chose it as a favorite. With its soft images and gentle text, it’s a soothing book, and she may enjoy the change of pace from the rest of her life that consists mostly of looking for things to eat or bounce on. It repeats the words “I love you” a lot, and she likely enjoys hearing that phrase at least as often as she hears “no, Abbie.” Then there are two of the last pages that state the mother loves as much as “the mountain is steep” and “the ocean is deep.” For some reason, she giggles whenever I make an “eep” sound, possibly because I poke her at every utterance.
I have a couple problems with the book, though. First, some of the comparisons are a bit odd. For example, the mother goat that loves her child as much as “the grass on the hill.” Does she mean there’re an infinite number of blades of grass on the hill, just like her infinite love? That’s touching. Or does she mean she loves her daughter as much as she enjoys eating the grass on a hill? That’s less touching, but probably more suited to a goat’s thought process. Or does she mean that the grass also loves her child, and her love is at least equivalent to that of the grass? That sounds like the authors love the grass a bit too much, if you catch my drift. There are other weird comparisons. Don’t get me started on the superficiality of the mother horse that loves her child as much as “a warm summer breeze.”
Second, I feel funny reading a book that focuses exclusively on a mother’s love. Not once does the book talk about a father’s love. That’s great that the mother mouse loves her child as much as the grain in the mill, but where’s the father mouse? Standing lookout for the mother owl that loves her child as much as a warm meal? I could substitute “father” for “mother” on a few pages to add a few words about a father’s love, but Abbie is having enough problems with language without having to figure out why the word “mother” is pronounced “father.” For this reason, I don’t like speaking words that are different from the printed text, unless I need to fix grammar for some reason, probably because Cookie Monster says something.
Otherwise it’s a good book. The pictures keep her attention. The words move fast enough for her to appreciate. The text is simple enough for me to memorize so I can continue reading my newspaper while “reading” to her.
* “Xylophone” and “x-ray” are the only members of this group, at least until someone figures out what “xenon” looks like.
posted by Matt at
11:52 PM
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