Love You Forever

by Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw (Illustrator)

An extraordinarily different story by Robert Munsch is a gentle affirmation of the love a parent feels for their child—forever.

"A young woman holds her newborn son and looks at him lovingly. Softly she sings to him: "I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

So begins the story that has touched the hearts of millions worldwide. Since publication in l986, "Love You Forever" has sold more than 15 million copies in paperback and the regular hardcover edition (as well as hundreds of thousands of translated copies around the world).

Sheila McGraw's soft and pleasing pastels perfectly complement the sentiment of the book—one that will be read repeatedly for years.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Family, Love, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.

He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children after jobs at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with.

Munsch's wife delivered two stillborn babies in 1979 and 1980. Out of the tragedy, he produced one of his best-known books, Love You Forever. This book was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best selling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). The Munsches have since become adoptive parents of Julie, Andrew and Tyya (see them all in Something Good!)

Munsch has obsessive-compulsive disorder and has also suffered from manic depression. In August 2008, Munsch suffered a stroke that affected his ability to speak in normal sentences. He has recovered enough that he is able to perform live, but has put his writing career on hold until he is fully recovered.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have to read this creepy little book!
Licha, thank you so much for introducing this little gem to me.
A-MAZING!

So, I gathered 3 of my kids (ages 7, 10, & 12) around last night, and told them I wanted to get their opinion on a book. Would have loved to get the 15 year old's opinion, but he was busy sleeping off the previous night's video game marathon. You can imagine their excitement when I pulled out a baby book titled Love You Forever. The room was practically buzzing with anticipation (<---not even a little bit).
The cover looks totally innocuous.
Which makes what's inside so fucking freaktastic!



So the story opens with this mom rocking her baby and singing this little song...
I'll love you forever.
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.



My 7 year old girl is now snuggling in for what she thinks will be a good story. My 10 year old daughter says Awww, and cuddles in on the other side. My 12 year old son raises an eyebrow, but still tucks his feet under him, and settles in on the couch.

The next page is the kid dumping shit in the toilet, and making a general mess while his mother says, This kid is driving me CRAZY!
We could each relate to that scene in our own way.
Because children are horrible. And messy.



Dawwww.
Ok. That first bit lulled us into a false sense of security because I turned the page and...
JUMP SCARE!



Every one of my kids jolted at this picture.
The 10 year old: *scream/squeal* Oh my God! Like, what's she doing?!
Only, you have to imagine that she sounds like a Valley Girl with a southern accent. Because she does, and it makes everything she says 10x more hilarious.

This woman scuttled across the kid's floor once he was asleep, eyeballed him all weird like, then picked him up, rocked him, and sang her freaky song!
Bitch, nobody picks up an already-sleeping baby. You check to make sure they're still breathing, thank your lucky fucking stars that you have a few hours to yourself, and then quietly back the hell out of the room. What you don't do is introduce noise and motion. Ever.

Up next, the boy is 9 years old!
He's up to all sorts of 9 year old shenanigans...like not wanting to take a bath...and he's still driving his mom crazy. Like children do.
But every night, mom still crawls across his floor and looks up over the side of his bed to see if he's really asleep. And, if he is, she rocks him and sings the song.
The question of Why the fuck is she CRAWLING across his floor?! was a popular one in our house. Even my 7 year old knew that wasn't normal. My son was actually more concerned with why she felt the need to rock him without his knowing about it...



On the next page, her son has become some sort of teenage Elvis impersonator.
Because. Well, because that's what all the cool kids are doing these days.



And while he might be a rascally young lad, his mamma still crawls into his room to rock him in her arms and croon to him each night.
This picture caused yet another round of Ugh! Jeez! and What the...?! out of all of us. I mean, look at it!
LOOK. AT. IT.



Never. Never have I crawled on my belly like a soldier into my teenage son's room. And never have I attempted to pick up his massive frame and rock him on my lap. Asleep or not! First, because he's bigger than I am and he'd crush my legs. Second, I can't even imagine the upper body strength that sort of thing would require. Third, and I feel most importantly, I'm not a creeper.
Now, that's not to say I'm not affectionate. I hug him. Lots! <--mostly against his will b/c he's a teenager.
Just not while he's unconscious.

Well, on the next page this poor boy finally escapes.
He grows up and moves across town.



I swear, there was an audible sigh of relief from my son when we got to this page. You could see that he was actively rooting for this guy to get away from Mother Bates. My 7 year old had the scrunchy face look going on because she could tell something was not quite right with this woman, but she doesn't have enough life experience yet to pinpoint what it is. But my 10 year old really pegged it when she said, Ha! What's she gonna do...sneak across town to get him? And we all laughed!
Nervously.
Spoiler Alert!
Across Town was apparently NOT far enough away!
This crazy chick bungied a freaking ladder to the top of her car, and drove to his new place...at night.



Sweet baby Jesus, save us!

If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed.

I felt dirty just reading that out loud. *shudder*

If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Uuuuuuuugh!

And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

The kids are all coming off the couch, gesturing wildly at the picture, and just freaking the fuck out in general, at this point. This woman has crossed the line BIG TIME.
And even the 7 year old knew it.



But wait! There's more!
On the next page, the old lady is...old.
She calls her son and says:
You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick.
About damn time, I say.
Anyway, when her son gets to her door, this lunatic starts in with her disturbing chant.
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always... <--My son inserts a gagging sound here because she can't finish due to being too old and sick.
My children and I cackle. Loudly.

Aw, but don't worry, her son picks her up (instead of calling 911) and does his own rendition of the nightmarish song.

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.



"OH MY GOD! He was awake every time she did that!"
This was my 12 year old boy. He was (understandably) freaked out that her son knew the words to this frightening little ditty since the book specifically stated that Mommy made sure he was asleep each time she crept into his room to sing it. So, not only was the mom a lunatic, but the son was evidently cool with it. <--this was particularly worrisome to him.
In his mind, no (normal) boy would find this sort of behavior endearing.
And, I gotta agree with him.
This shit might have flown up till he was 9, but beyond that? No.
And especially not a teenage boy.
Here's how that scenario would have gone down in real-life:
Mom: *tiptoe...tiptoe*
Son: Moooooom! Christ! Get out!
Mom: *slinks back out*
Son: *resumes trying to get around parental porn block on tablet*

Ok, ok. Last page! Again, you're sorta lulled into thinking that it's over because the old woman is (presumably) dead.
But, no.
The cycle continues.
Oh, yes. Because, evidently, some woman was chill with this freaky old broad randomly sneaking into her home and cuddling with her husband.
She was cool enough with it that she let this mamma's boy get her pregnant.
So, now he's gonna do this dance with his daughter.
I'll love you forever...



*slams book shut, runs screaming from room*

Alright, now in this book's defense (and all the people who love it!), it's almost certainly not meant to be taken literally. It's meant to show how long a parent's love lasts. No matter what they do, no matter how old they get, your children will always be your babies. And, I admit, it's hard to watch mine grow up and not need me as much anymore.
Will they still love me once I'm not an integral part of their everyday lives? What happens when it's not important that I sign their report cards, take them to friend's houses, and cook them dinner? What about once they're ready to move out? Will I be ready for it?!
Hell no.
But at least now I know I can threaten to strap a ladder to the top of my car and pay them a midnight visit if they don't routinely call me.
Would I ever really do that? Probably not.
Still, they owe me and I better hear from them on the regular.
Why, you ask?
Because this was our actual Christmas card one year.

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love you forever, Stalk you for always . . . .

***Ok, in response to the haters: let me state that I do not mind one bit that many people have been touched and uplifted and LOVE this book. It just doesn't work for me. At all. And I'm allowed to have a different opinion that you.***


. . . let me say first that I understand this is an allegory about unconditional love between parent/child . . . but does this book come off a little creepy to anyone else?

1) It starts out ok . . . but about the time the kid gets to be a teenager I just start to feel uncomfortable. Would I be ok with my mom slipping into my teenage brothers' rooms while they're sleeping to cuddle and sing a love song? No, probably not.

2) I think it's weird there's only female figures mentioned (mom and grandma). Where's the dad? (later when the mom is sick the only pictures on her wall are of the kid, no husband or parents -- again, kinda weird) And later on in the book when the kid is grown up where is the mom to his baby - single dads are awesome but the absence of characters is chilling here.

3) This mom I seriously think has issues with letting her children go. Once a man gets married the woman in their life isn't you--it's the wife! And when children grow up and become adults and you should have an adult-to-adult relationship with them. Quit trying to cuddle them!

4) When it gets to the part of the old woman tying a ladder to her roof and driving across town with the lights off, then sneaking in the son's window to cuddle and sing the love song --- I just want to scream, " AAAGH, she's coming!! Lock the windows!! RUN!!!" creee-py!

5) Okay, just think about if this dad goes on to have the same behavior with his own daughter. The dad sneaking in on the teenage daughter to hold her, or later on when she's married he's climbing through her window to her bed????

6) I really don't think it's good writing. With children's books I like them to have rhyme and rhythm and be easy to read. I felt like I was stumbling over words.

7) Despite all this Ellie still likes the book, and I see the point it's trying to make, although I don't agree with the method. And I know I'm being too literal, but seriously if you look at this book literally it will give you nightmares!!! Just for fun read it to someone purposefully trying to be creepy - just as an experiment. Trust me, you'll agree with me after that.

Darik doesn't necessarily like it when I call the book:

Love you forever,
Stalk you for always . . .

But I do anyways :-)

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey parents, do you want to read a children's book that will make you cry uncontrollably from the third page all the way to the end of the book?

Well look no further, this is the book for you.

Honestly? It's a very sweet book. But get ready to do all the crying while your little kid looks up at you, with an expression that says, "Seriously dad, what the fuck? Do you need a tissue or something?"

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't hate this book because it was too sappy. I like sappy sometimes. Here's what I didn't like about the book.

Where do I even begin? How about the cover? The cover makes it look like it's some sort of book about potty training or something. Awful choice.

Secondly the illustrations are hideous. Simply hideous.

Now lets talk about the writing. Repetitive and long-winded. "I'll like you for always" is just a terrible phrase.

The overall general creepiness is another reason I didn't like this book. I realize that the mother sneaking into her grown son's house via a ladder is supposed to be kind of funny (at least I hope it is), but it is still creepy and weird!

Finally the overall message of the book. The intended message I'm sure is about unconditional love, the reversal of roles, etc. etc. But here's the message I got. I love you because you're my son, but I really don't like you very much. She sees her son as a deviant. If he's not flushing her watch down the toilet at age two, he's swearing in front of his grandma at age 9. She says he drives her crazy and wants to put him in a zoo. It's when he's asleep, and only when he's asleep, that she can express her affection. Why does he have to be asleep for her to do this? Because it's the only time he's peaceful and quiet and not "driving [her] CRAZY!"

[babyhippoface · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I realize I'm in the minority here, and I will admit that the first time I read it I went, "Aww... she loves her baby." But then I actually thought about it, and was completely freaked out by this book. This woman USES A LADDER TO CLIMB INTO HER GROWN SON'S WINDOW, PICKS HIM UP OUT OF BED AND HOLDS HIM WHILE HE SLEEPS. Do I need to repeat the "grown man" part? We've got breaking-and-entering here, along with the fact that we never once see this woman tell her son she loves him while he is, oh, I don't know, AWAKE. There's something she might try.

I realize I'm probably reading far too much into a little Robert Munsch rhyming ditty, but it has become so revered by the masses that I feel the need to speak my piece. I'm done now.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would you believe that this book is a controversial one?

The author shared that the book came about because he and his wife lost two babies, and so they ended up adopting two that they named, Sam and Gilly.

And… Because of their experience of losing children, and the beauty of being able to adopt and love two, they always wanted them to know how much they were loved…

And… That their love would carry on forever.

Thus…Love you, forever.

However…Valerie Lewis, co-owner of Hicklebee’s a children’s bookstore in San Jose, CA, shared when interviewed about this book, that…

“It is the most loved and the most hated book I’ve ever seen. More loved than not, people will read this book and burst into tears.”

But…It doesn’t stop with Ms. Lewis.

Barbara Jenko, coordinator for new book selection for the Brooklyn Public Library, said…

“It’s the most Oedipal book I’ve read since ‘Oedipus.’”

The author actually received a letter sharing…

“Dear Mr. Munsch, how dare you parade the general public your unresolved Oedipal feelings for your mother!”

All these musings I share come from an article by MP Dunleavy, I read in the New York Times.

The story is about a mother rocking her baby son and telling him, “I’ll love you forever.”

Of course, if you look at the visual illustrations you see the mother crawling to his bed every night to hold him and sing this refrain no matter how old he is. Toddlerhood to adulthood.

Now, personally, I did not take this literally, or from an Oedipal place. I happen to have 2 sons.

And…I do love them dearly, and definitely, forever, too.

And…yes, I will age myself by sharing that my sons are now in their 40’s and they have kids… my grandkids, that I love forever, too.

And…They each live in separate states. I don’t crawl into their beds.

But…I do say I love them every chance I get.

And I think that really is the point of the story.

So…However, you choose to interpret this story, I thought this was an interesting point of view to share.

[Emily May · Rating 1 out of 5]

Creepy.

[Swati Tanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to this book through FRIENDS when in one episode Joey read it to little Emma on her 1st birthday. It's such a lovely little book for little humans. 😄

The best book to read to children, especially if you have a baby boy, is this one. It's a children's book that parents can read to their children and will make them cry. The parents, not the children. The love a mother has for her son grows stronger as he grows older.

"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be."

You might like to wander through a few artistic journals — they’re full of sparks and surprises.

[Fabian {Councillor} · Rating 1 out of 5]

Obviously enough, I'm in the minority here, but this children's book is weird, creepy, disturbing and will probably give me more nightmares than any Stephen King novel ever did.

"Love You Forever" is, as the title indicates, about a mother who loves her sweet little baby boy forever, until her baby has grown into an adult and she into an old woman. I'm perfectly fine with the message that mothers (respectively parents in general) will always love their children and will (in most cases - sadly enough, there are always exceptions) do everything for them to be comfortable. But Robert Munsch simply overexaggerated while portraying this message, and finally made me see a totally different message in this book: That a mother's love justifies stalking her children and entering into their lives in one of the creepiest and most disturbing ways - by climbing a ladder to her son's bedroom, entering the house and picking her son up to rock him back and forth while he's sleeping.

I'm sorry, but this is so weird, I can't even find it funny anymore. Yes, the book is meant to be understood metaphorically, the book is supposed to be somehow funny and cute and oh-so-sweet (although I only furled my eyebrows in confusion rather than actually laughing). In the beginning, the book was still interesting; everyone can relate to the way children can bring chaos into everything. But then the mother began to enter her son's room at night. Is it okay to go into your two-year-old son's bedroom while he's sleeping with the intention of admiring him and admitting that you will love him forever? Yes, it is. I am totally fine with that. Doing so with a nine-year-old son begins to show signs of creepiness, but it's still acceptable.
It isn't acceptable if your son is thirty and has moved on with his own life. You can't just break into his house to admire him, indifferent from how lonely you might feel. (And yes, I understand that this book is not supposed to be taken seriously, and it's not even realistically possible for an old woman to be able to pick up her full-grown son while he's sleeping, but this book pretends it is, so I will too.) There are thousands of better ways to incorporate a message about a mother's love into a book. I wouldn't even consider this one to be a children's book ... calling it a horror novel would perhaps be more appropriate.

If you want to read a fantastic children's book, then please skip this and read The Velveteen Rabbit instead, which is an absolutely wonderful story. Or if you want to read two more reviews of "Love You Forever" which I really enjoyed and can whole-heartedly recommend reading, then read this Anne's review or the other Anne's.

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book with what it was trying to get across and not literally. It is a weird book to take literally, which could be weird for a child reading it that takes things literally. It might scare the crap out of them. If you take the story as how irritating children are and you love them anyway, no matter what, then it is a great book.

It is weird to see the mother sneak into the kids room at age 9 and rock him, and I think it is supposed to be about the love you have for them.

I didn't think the art was all that great either. I did read this to the kids and it didn't seem to bother them too much. It didn't scare them and it didn't really affect them either. I think it's actually more a book for parents.

[Shainlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edit: the moral of the story here is that growing up is necessary, endearing, and also bittersweet. You see a little boy grow up and the process repeated. It’s one of the more serious children’s books I have ever read. It’s something that is both good and a little depressing to think about.

Second time I have written this review.
Also, I think it says something about the toilet. We are going to inevitably to spend a lot of time there.
Circle of life.
**************

Ok. There was a review here with dates. Alas POOF!
So under renovation. :) apologies.

[Minne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not feeling the love, but I definitely am feeling the creeps.
I get the point - unconditional and everlasting love, hence the three stars. But that's just not how you do it man. I like what the book is saying, I just don't like how it's saying it. Maybe, just maybe, I would've appreciated this story more as a kid, when I saw the world through innocent and unspotted eyes, but now I know such words like STALKER, PEEPING TOM, OBSESSIVE CREEP, LOONEY. Nooooooo. I just can't overlook how disturbing this is. I really couldn't enjoy this book. How do I fall asleep now? I just wanted something sweet **sniffs** This is definitely better than Edward Cullen's night watch sessions.


Or maybe not. Maybe a lover watching his love sleep is better? But still, mothers creeping across floors and through windows at night, rocking and singing love songs to teenage boys and grown men. In their sleep. Someone needs a lesson on privacy. There's nothing I hate more than an unwelcome and unpermitted invasion of privacy and simply put, STALKING. And the grown man takes this habit up and suddenly I can foresee it becoming something of a legacy. I love my father, I really do(and besides, even my father would agree with me completely. I don't know about anyone else, but I love when I'm awake and my father says "I love you" because AWAKE, like I can hear it, feel it and appreciate it and say it back). But this...just NO. Like bloody hell!



You want to rock and sing to me? Wait till I am conscious.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 1 out of 5]

It reassures me to see so many people find this book as creepy and loathsome as I do. I know the lesson we're supposed to learn is that we never stop being the apples of our parents' eyes, but all I ever got out of it was that if you feel at all smothered by your parents, you better get used to it, because it will never end. Also, moms are inherently stalkery. And while I hope that wasn't the authorial intention here, I can't shake the feeling that maybe it really was.

[Alicia Krauchuk Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this book. It is a bit on the "unusual" side, but that is just Munsch for ya. I first read this my Freshman year of college. I cried then and I cry when I read it to my girls. It's the intergenerational, unconditional love of mother/son and then father/daughter that I feel a strong connection with. The mother's corniness just adds to the tenderness of the book. I am touched by the mother's love for her son, the son's love for his mom, and then the son's love to his daughter...a breathless tradition passed from one generation to the next. So simple, so beautiful, so profound!!! I was so inspired I made up a tune for the words to "the song" for my girls. My dad used to sing me a Spanish lullaby when I was a little girl that I sing to my girls and I hope that they will sing to their family. Alright...where is my kleenex...Goodness! :-)

[Rebecca Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book..............
My earliest memory of this book is my mom reading this aloud to my two year old self, and crying as she finished the last few pages. Now im the one who starts crying whenever i pull the book out and stare at the waterworn pages.
Anyone who's read this book knows the words that the mother is constantly saying to her son as he's sleeping-
I love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be.
My mom made a tune for those words, and I cant imagine those words without the song. It was my little lullaby when i was younger.

[رزی - Woman, Life, Liberty · Rating 1 out of 5]

امروز یک‌هو هوس کتاب کودک کردم و رفتم خوانش چندتا رو از یوتیوب تماشا کردم. با اختلاف، این بدترین بود. فکر نکنم درست باشه برای کتاب‌های خوب ریویو ننویسم و برای بدها بنویسم، حرکت قشنگی به نظر نمیاد ولی خب این کتاب به قدری کریپی بود که اصلا نمی‌تونم غر نزنم.

طی تماشای داستان قیافه‌ی من به ترتیب این‌جوری شد:








یه مادر توی داستان هست که انگار محور کل زندگیش بچه‌شه. پسرش بزرگ می‌شه و ازدواج می‌کنه و می‌ره خونه‌ی خودش، بعد مامانه نصف شب از پنجره‌ی اتاق میاد داخل، پسرش رو بغل می‌کنه و براش آواز می‌خونه!!! یادم باشه یه سیستم امنیتی درست حسابی داشته باشم! بعد من نمی‌فهمم هدف این داستان چی بود. مادر و پدرت دوستت دارن؟ خب؟ داستان قشنگ این‌جوریه که: پسر فلان غلط را کرد اما مادرش هنوز دوستش داشت. پسر فلان بچه‌بازی و گه‌کاری را انجام داد اما مادرش هنوز دوستش داشت
ولم کن


توی ریویوها این متن رو دیدم که جالب بود و مود!!!
This woman USES A LADDER TO CLIMB INTO HER GROWN SON'S WINDOW, PICKS HIM UP OUT OF BED AND HOLDS HIM WHILE HE SLEEPS. Do I need to repeat the "grown man" part? We've got breaking-and-entering here, along with the fact that we never once see this woman tell her son she loves him while he is, oh, I don't know, AWAKE. There's something she might try.

[Dacia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the only children's book I've ever read that stuck me as more depressing than "The Giving Tree". My mother gave me a copy just before my son was born. I read it once and promptly lost to book. I don't think I could EVER read it to my son. It's so.... well.. sorta twisted. Yes it's about love, but it seems so unrealistic, and morbid. I know one day my son will grow up and leave, and I'll get old and die, but I'd rather not dwell on the subject.

As a child I found books on this subject very distressing. I didn't want to THINK about leaving my parents and my home. It upset me because then I wasn't ready. When the time to move out actually came (and I hit it young, at 15), I experienced a couple of weeks of intense home sickness, and the promptly go over it. The actual leaving wasn't nearly as bad as the horrible imaginings I'd had as a small child. To me, books like this make kids focus on the losses of the future, instead of the gains.

Yes, the mother is saying "she'll love him forever", but what child with reasonably attentive parents doesn't already know that? The fact that the book shows it as something of a anomoly makes the child (or at least ME as a child) think there is something REAL to fear in seperation. Anyway, I know this is a long diatribe about a very short, silly, cute, cuddly children's book, but...

That's how powrefully upset the book made me.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just LOVE this book too much. Even when I reread it I think "This time I will not tear up!" I do and my voice cracks. It perfectly describes a mother's journey with her kids and no matter what they are loved even if they make you feel Loony Tunes. And their commitment to you at your old age. (Fingers crossed!)

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot read this book to my kids without doing the 'ugly cry,' which, naturally, creeps them out... every single time.

[Terri · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star is too high for this book! I would have given it negative stars if possible. This is a story of a dysfunctional woman who only tells her child she loves him while he's asleep. He perpetuates the cycle with his daughter. The image of this old mother sneaking into her son's bedroom at night is just too weird, and the thoughts it presages of this man creeping into his teen daughter's bedroom someday are even worse! There are too many wonderful picture books celebrating familial love to waste time on this creepy distortion!

[Kate Kerrane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I continue to struggle with why so many people love this book with a fervor. Okay, it is nice that the son rocks the mother at the end. And yes, I'm sure that I will always have the feelings that my son is still my little boy who I will want to rock forever. And sure, I understand that the story is supposed to be metaphorical.

However, does the mother not understand boundaries? Clearly her son does not want to be rocked as an adolescent and young man and she has to crawl across the floor like a stalker in the night and sneak into his bed while he is asleep to rock him. Her son finally escapes this woman and her unhealthy clingy ways,and moves into his own house. He obviously did not give his mother a key to his house or she would not have had to drive across town in the dark of night with a ladder strapped to the top of her car. (She is one strong, dexterous and determined old lady!) She risks a broken hip to climb in through his window to rock him?! I also suspect that she's slipping him some sort of sleeping medication at night; how else could he sleep through her attempts to hoist his large body into her frail arms?

Also, what is wrong with this relationship that the mother can only acknowledge her love for her son when he is asleep? When he is awake she refers to him as "it" and references his bad and "strange" behavior and repeatedly says, "This kid is driving me crazy!" It's only when he is comatose (see earlier drugging reference) that she can show her love and affection. So in his waking life, her son only experiences his mother's disdain, not the love that she feels when night falls. Family therapy?

Come on people, wake up! This book is an example of a horribly disturbed and dysfunctional parent/child relationship!

Don't even get me started on gender stereotypes and how that Giving Tree just gives and gives and never gets anything in return until the boy is a crumpled old man who can't even move! And she should be grateful?

[Melki · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sky rocketed to popularity in the mid-eighties while I was working at B. Dalton Bookseller.
Oh, so many women came to the register clutching the title, weeping into their sodden tissues. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now.

I'm glad to see several one-star reviews of this title. I thought maybe there was something wrong with me that I could not see the "beauty" in telling a child, "Someday Mommy will be old, and you will have to take care of me . . . JUST LIKE A BABY!!!"

*Shudder!*

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

این کتاب بجا اینکه احساسی و قشنگ باشه کریپی بود.
میخواست عشق مادر و فرزندی رو نشون بده؟ چطور اینهمه ترسناک بود؟ ترسناک که... کریپی واقعا.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a sweet book!

" I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be"

A mother repeats this phrase to her son at night, continuing this as he grows up. Parents of even older children can relate. No matter how old they get, they are still yours and you love them.
This books shows that through good times and bad and has such a sweet, tender ending that should touch everyone's heart.


There is one part that is a bit disturbing with the mom even sneaking into the "boy's" home when he is an adult to continue so sooth him in his sleep. While the literal sense of this is....unusual to say the least, the concept the book holds is very true. For me to this day, my mother still calls me her "Munchkin" and has admitted that even having kids of my own I will still be her little girl. No matter what I do or go through she loves me. And that is the message I love about this book.

When I first saw this I half wondered what it was about and hoped it was not about toilet training. Lucky for me I it wasn't. This book is a treasure and a perfect book to read before bed. and the quote about is utterly endearing. Try it with your own child!

[Francisca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be.

A lovely picture book sure to help you think back with some melancholy to the times your children (if you have them, of course) were little. Also a book I like to give as present to new parents. It seems to help them cope (at least momentarily) with some of the exasperating behavior of their little ones.

This is one of those rare books that manages to leave you sad but happy, all at the same time. A little ode to the unconditional love between parents and children.

[Chantal ❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ONE OF MY FAVORITE ROBERT MUNSCH OF ALL TIME!

I read this book way before I had kids. I was a student teacher in my first job and I had never read it before. I can't tell you what a rookie mistake that was!!
Oh boy did I cry!
I had to leave the room to compose myself.

That poem and those words will forever play in my mind:
"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
as long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be!"

Just thinking about it and I'm getting emotional.
This story came out of left field for me, who was accustomed to reading the lighter side of MUNSCH.

My recommendation is to read it first to yourself before you read it as a bedtime story for your kids.

Even now my youngest daughter Désirée, cries with me when I read it.
This story KNOCKED THE WIND OUT OF MY SAILS!

[Carrie Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far my absolute favorite book to read to or with my children. The first time, I could barely get through it, I cried so hard!
I still get misty eyed everytime I read it. Especially when the grown son carries his mother upstairs and rocks her to sleep.
I have to turn back to the page where grandma takes off in the station wagon, with the ladder hanging over the roof of the vehicle, whilst racing to her sons' house.
That helps soothe the waterworks.

Make a mental note to watch how the cat ages along with the growing child, too.

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok... i have to admit when i first read this, i was fully engulfed in post partum hormonal mayhem. thus, i sobbed.
i broke this out last night to read to my son (who is now almost 3) and while the story is still touching, it's a little creepy when the mom drives across town - in the middle of the night - to hold her 40 year old son on her lap and sing to him. hmm??? did his wife find that okay? cause that would warrant a serious conversation, possibly the delivery of some divorce papers. "look honey, I know your mom loves you and all, but there comes a time when you need to, ya know, cut the cord."

so go ahead, read it to your kids, just skip the crazy page.

[Joshua Nomen-Mutatio]

I don't know how to rate this star-wise because I really can see how creepy (a common word in reviews for it I've noticed) and over-sentimental it is, but I can also see how sincere and profoundly universal its message is. Two sides, same coin...for me.

I stumbled upon a review of this in which Michelle called it creepier than American Psycho which made me laugh and subsequently click on the book to check it out further. Then I suddenly recognized the book from my childhood and remembered my mother reading it to me and her being moved by it and I metamorphosized instantly into a sad sack of sentimental jelly turned it's-so-undeniably-sad-that-things-change-and-change-then-die-regardless-of-our-love-for-life-and-mom-etc quasi-existentialist. So along with the Bible and the Koran this book is one of the rare books left unstarred due to its complexity. Can't pin these things down with stars.

[Steph Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I randomly thought about this book today, as I usually do every once in a while. My mom, awesome lady that she is, fueled my passion for books at a young age and this was one of the many books she purchased for me. Out of all of the books I owned as a kid, this is the one that I remember the best and read the most. It's been YEARS, maybe over 15, since I've read it and I still have vivid memories of reading this and crying.

In fact, I think this was the first book EVER that gave me all the feels. I still remember the signature line from the book:

"Love you forever. Like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby, you'll be."