I Love You, Baby!

Claire Freedman is the author of several picture books, including Pirates Love Underpants!; Dinosaurs Love Underpants!; Aliens Love Underpants!; Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones; One Magical Day; A Magical Christmas; Dilly Duckling; and My Grandparents Love Me. She lives in Essex, England.

Judi Abbot studied illustration in Milan, Italy. She is the author and illustrator of Mouse’s Christmas Wish. She is also the illustrator of several books for children, including The Biggest Kiss, The Perfect Hug, I Love Dad, and I Love Mom, all written by Joanna Walsh, and My Grandparents Love Me by Claire Freedman.

A love song of sorts from parent to child, illustrated with animal families and a surfeit of snuggles. First-person, rhyming verse expresses parental love for children, with double-page spreads devoted to animal families that exemplify each loving statement. In keeping with the singular first-person text and title, there is always one parent on a given spread, but the number of offspring depicted varies. An early spread depicts a family of cheetahs or leopards lounging in a tree with text reading "I love your sleepy wake-up smile, as we start our day. / I love our morning cuddles, and the way we laugh and play." The closing picture is of a house cat curled up in an armchair with five kittens at day's end alongside text that reads "So snuggle down and close your eyes, the night is soft and still. / I love you, love you, love you, and I always, always will!" Between these feline lovefests, polar bears, dogs, bees, snakes, and many other animals, all anthropomorphized to greater or lesser extent, appear in affectionate tableaux to accompany the text. The sweet-as-sugar illustrations are painted in an Easter-egg palette with rounded forms and occasional heart embellishments to reinforce the text's theme. Sure to find love on the baby-shower circuit. (Picture book. 1-3)  -- 7/1/17