cover image What I Love About You

What I Love About You

Susan Farrington. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-239353-1

In Farrington's first children's book, a parent praises its child's creativity, kindness, and other attributes. Read on its own, the text could be seen as borderline treacly ("Do you know what I love? I love when you're brave"), but the wonderfully oddball monster-animals on display in Farrington's collaged scenes speak joyfully to the happy chaos of family life: a round, carpet-textured creature with eyestalks unselfconsciously beams a gap-toothed smile to rival the most awkward of school photos, and later a lumpy beastie with a body made from grass uses six of its 12 appendages to tuck its little one in at night. It's a quirky ode to love, but an undeniably comforting one, too. Ages 4%E2%80%938. Agent: Laurie Abkemeier, DeFiore and Company. (Dec.)