Book; I love you forever by Robert Munsch

amother

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:37 pm

I pride myself in being open minded, ( although I'm chassidish - gasp), I encourage reading
and get my 3 year old son lots of books. yiddish books (think; hershele series) as well as secular kids books. I came across this best seller book on amazon, and was smitten with the book. Now I think its a cute, harmless book, but some of the pages are starting to irk (the pic of him as a teenager all funky wild looking, and a different one where his mammas holding him as a 35 yr old young man-its just weird,I dunno),and I'm like "have I become overly sensitive, or is there some truth to my feelings?" anyone has this book and could relate?
I'm ok with the berenstain bears and Elmo etc....
link
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Yo.....r=8-2

ora_43

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:48 pm

Soooo not overreacting. The page where his mother climbs into his window at night to cuddle him? Creepy.

It's meant to be a cute kids book, and the last page always gets to me... but it can still be kinda creepy.

Anyway. With books in general it's not "overly sensitive" to just dislike a book for whatever reason. I always let myself get rid of any kids books I don't like reading, even if there's nothing objectively wrong with them. There are more than enough kids books that I love or at least don't mind.

amother

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:56 pm

ora_43 wrote:

so right. LOL Its just creepy think I'll throw it out!

amother

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:57 pm

miami85 wrote:

Robert Munsch is a WEIRD author, a lot of his books are WEIRD, but that one I cannot read it through without crying.

k makes sense. its such a top seller, wish he would've left out the weird parts tho.

watergirl

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:57 pm

This book is creepy. Like, its known for creeping people out. Forget how the kid LOOKS. His mother climbs into his room. No thanks.

There are a number of other books that many people love but others cant get past... The Giving Tree, Rainbow Fish... Google and you will see that you are far from the minority who has issues with this book.

amother

Ruby

Wed, May 29 2019, 1:02 pm

Not overreacting at all! It's widely regarded as totally creepy while at the same time still considered a timeless classic.

Just so you know, there's actually a really sad story behind it. He wrote it after he and his wife suffered a second stillbirth. Ever since I learned that, I feel a little guilty for hating on that book. Robert Munsch wrote a lot of books, all very weird and whimsical, but not creepy like that one. I'd definitely recommend trying some of his other books.

greenfire

Wed, May 29 2019, 1:12 pm

a mama does love their baby forever ... even though another vote for creepy weird in some places

don't think to deep though, because it's meant to be light-hearted & loving

imasinger

Wed, May 29 2019, 2:11 pm

It's meant to be totally ridiculous, it speaks straight to the kid issue of navigating Independence and still staying connected, by addressing it over the top.

I think it's brilliant.

And, yes, classic Robert Munsch, whose books are often over the top like that.

Thanks for sharing the story about the still birth, I hadn't known that.

miami85

Wed, May 29 2019, 2:22 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

k makes sense. its such a top seller, wish he would've left out the weird parts tho.

I used to work with another teacher in a preschool who had a lot of his books in her collection and I used to HATE them because they are all SO WEIRD. Lot of very strange elements--its been a while since I've seen them b/c I don't own any of them, but remember my strong visceral reaction to them.

Whenever she brought one out and not even paying attention to the author, I could "smell" his style from the first few pages but the kids loved them.

rzab

Wed, May 29 2019, 2:32 pm

Just FYI, Robert munch's books are usually out there and ridiculous on purpose. This one was meant to be serious. I don't remember the exact story, but he wrote this either after his wife had a still born or they had a child who died. The point being that no matter what a parent always loves their child. Not at all his typical style, and yes parts of it are a little strange, but it's a little more meaningful when you know the context.

southernbubby

Wed, May 29 2019, 2:40 pm

I had to explain to the kids that healthy mothers let their kids grow up but will always treasure the baby that the child once was and that healthy sons don't rock their mothers like babies but that they take the love their mothers gave them and give it to their own babies. Children should be told that normal mothers don't act like that.

trixx

Wed, May 29 2019, 6:01 pm

MiracleMama wrote:

I'm having deja vu. Wasn't this just discussed on this site very recently?

As part of a thread about which books you hate

imabima

Wed, May 29 2019, 8:06 pm

Agreed that it's a really weird book. I actually owned it as a part of my teaching library but when I had my own kids I got rid of it. Weird.

amother

Taupe

Wed, May 01 2024, 8:21 pm

I know this is old but its still timely for me. Heart wrenching - I read it in pdf form so no images so the message of the unconditional love came straight out to me.

the unconditional love that parents are expected to have for their children, despite the behavior of those children as they grow up.

Wish that was the case for my parents. Yes sod haadam course style. Thanks OP for posting this

ittsamother

Wed, May 01 2024, 8:33 pm

Oh c'mon peeps. The mother-rocking-grown-adult-child is a metaphor for wrapping him in her love, and by him then rocking her back is him being the grown up there and giving that love back to her. No need to get all creeped out, it's a kid's book, you don't need to all literally calm your children down by reassuring them you won't creep in their windows when you're 50. Do you feel the need to reassure your kids that Goldilocks won't come break their chairs and eat their porridge, do you feel the need to warn your kids not to actually build their house out of straw? Kids understand. They get that it's a storybook and no one is literally saying there was a mother who crept in her grown adult son's window to rock him.

im sorry, people who take it so seriously that they actually get creeped out by it annoy me. Unless you're all just exaggerating, in which case still, calm down about it.

amother

Burntblack

Wed, May 01 2024, 8:47 pm

This is one of my most favorite books ever- the message really resonates - tho I change the mantra from “as long as I’m living” to “forever and ever” bc a mother’s love endures beyond life.
Anyone who is “creeped out” is reading way too much into it and over analyzing. It’s not meant to be taken literally that a mother needs to crawl through her adults son’s window and hold him.