I Love You Always

A child gets a lighthearted lesson in unconditional love in this story from the team behind Travels of an Extraordinary Hamster and other titles. It’s bedtime, and as a woman with long dark hair attempts to answer her curly-haired son’s question about whether she will love him “my whole life,” the book becomes a study in contrasts. “I love you when you can see it,” writes Desbordes as the mother gives her child cotton candy at a fairground, “and even when you don’t” (the woman scowls as she cleans up a shattered vase while the boy stands to the side, looking guilty). Martin’s delicate cartooning brings humor to life’s ups and downs (the boy wears a tuxedo in one scene, but has chicken pox in the opposite image), helping deliver Desbordes’s reassuring message with a light touch. Ages 3–up. (Apr.)