cover image I Love You Forever

I Love You Forever

Margaret Park Bridges, illus. by Shelagh McNicholas. Tiger Tales, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58925-132-8

“Mommy, what age/ was I cutest of all?/ Now that I’m bigger/ or when I was small?” A mother offers a reassuring answer to her shaggy-haired son’s question, explaining that “I’ll love you forever, whatever your age,” in this sweet, simple outing, which features a heart-shaped die-cut in its cover. Bridges’s rhyming verse carries readers through the boy’s growth: “When you were born,/ you were cuter than cute,/ Tiny and sweet/ in your new birthday suit./ Then you grew older/ but cute as a pup,/ Falling each time that/ you stood or sat up.” McNicholas’s polished watercolor scenes warmly picture familiar moments from childhood, as the boy makes a beeline for a vase as he learns to walk, plays superhero in a mask and cape, and interacts with other children at school and the playground. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)