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*Love is Real* by Janet Lawler, illustrated by Anna Brown
Love is Real
by Janet Lawler, illustrated by Anna Brown
Ages 3-5 32 pages HarperCollins December 2013 Hardcover    

Lawler’s (Ocean Counting, Snowzilla) latest picture book shows how three animal families show their love for one another.

In the morning, one of the young foxes brings in the bottled milk for his mother. After breakfast, the bear family plays hide and seek, and after an outdoor picnic with the rabbit family, all the animals dance and play creative games.

The collage and digital illustrations also show the parents and children taking care of one another: “Love unknots your tangled hair and finds a special book to share.” The illustrator adds a little humor to this page by showing the mother fox getting her tail tangles combed out by her child. Bathtime and fixing up a sore knee end with cuddling, and problems such as a stuck kite are solved with teamwork.

The word love begins every sentence in this rhyming story. It is the only word that appears in red. The first sentence is repeated at the end of the book, but with an addition of a few more words:
Love is real the whole day through.
It’s always there--from me to you.
I like this book because of the textures on the colored papers used in the illustrations, and because the story put an unexpected lump in my throat. This story about love can be enjoyed by all families.
 


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