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.

miami85

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:50 pm

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

amother

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:56 pm

ora_43 wrote:

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

observer

Wed, May 29 2019, 12:57 pm

Agree that some parts of that book are weird, but yet, the concept is true and the book is a tear jerker...

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.