It’s Friday again! Time for Friday Reads.
Love you Forever by Robert Munsch is one of the first books I remember my mom reading to me as a child. She read it to me so many times, that at one point I had it memorized and would repeat it with her. I can still remember the poem:
I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be.
I think part of the reason that particular piece stuck with me is that my mother often shared a similar sentiment with me, just as her mother had shared it with her. “You could be 50 and you’d still be my baby.” As a child, that was just about the worst thing I could hear (I wasn’t a baby). Now, I’d give so much to hear her call me her baby again.
As I grew up, my mom stopped reading to me, as you’d expect, and I basically forgot all about Love You Forever. I don’t even remember, at this point, what brought it back to my attention. I do remember looking it up online and being hit by a wave of nostalgia simply by looking at the cover.
I bought a Kindle edition just so I could read it again. It’s a good thing I didn’t go to a bookstore, because I got hit in the feels HARD. I went through several tissues.
It starts out so sweet, you can’t help but smile. But then it comes around full circle, and it hits home in a way you wouldn’t expect for a children’s book. I’m surprised my mom was able to read it to me so easily. If I had a child and was reading it to him or her, I’d be bawling. Poor thing would probably be traumatized.
I’d highly recommend reading this to your kid(s), though. It’s an amazing book that stands the test of time. Just make sure to read it by yourself, first, to make sure you can make it through without turning on the waterworks.
I’m not ashamed to say I still enjoy it. The poem still pops to mind occasionally. I even still hear it in my mom’s voice. After all, as long as I’m living my Mommy she’ll be.
Have you ever heard of Love You Forever? Did one, or both, of your parents read it to you as a kid? Or have you read it to your kid(s)? Leave a comment below and let me know, and share this with your friends to clue them in to Love You Forever.
Check out last week’s Friday Reads, Little Women, and come back next week for another awesome book.
