My Love for You

Naturalistic metaphors describe young animals’ affection for their maternal parents in this snuggly, dialogue-driven bedtime book. One by one, child/parent wildlife pairs engage in doting exchanges, largely initiated with the refrain “Mama, can I tell you?/ What, my baby love?/ Just how much I love you?/ Of course you can, my love.” Simile-laden lines frequently draw on the creatures’ habitats for inspiration: a young hippo compares its feelings to a stream “flowing wide, and long, and deep,” and a panda youth describes its sentiments with reference to bamboo “that grows up to the sky.” Invariably, the mothers’ replies affirm the youths’ imagery while encouraging rest, as when two chimps banter: “My love for you is like the woods—/ a mighty sprawling jungle./ My love for you is just as vast./ Sleep well, my little bundle.” Against plain white pages, Passarini’s realistic, soft-edged wash-style art centers the subjects in various cuddly states, leading to the reveal of a final mammalian pair who chart the contours of their care via the previous exchanges. Alongside Petit’s gentle rhyming repetition, the effect is a maternal call to sleep in the knowledge that one is loved. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)