A chicken and baby chick explain the concept of love! (Mummy, Do You Love Me? - Jeanne Willis)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Mummy, Do You Love Me? - Jeanne Willis
Date:	09/05/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent all rounder book.

Disadvantages: Pages made of paper.

On our weekly visit to the library I was searching through the books for Noah and came across this one. I had a quick flick through and decided it might be a nice to bring home and read.

The book is written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Jan Fearnley. It's quite a new one and was only printed last year (2008) by Walker Books LTD.

The story tells of a chicken and it's baby chick. The baby chick gets himself into all sorts of predicaments on purpose, only to ask his mother if she still loves him and why. Each time the mother explains that she does until it gets to a point in the book where the mother has to shout at the chick. The chick gets extremely upset so the mother has to explain why she shouted but that she still loves him. The roles are then reversed at the end when little chick tells his mummy that he loves her and the mum responds with 'Why?'

I love the pictures in this story. They are made up of pastel colours and it is obvious that each one has been painted with water colour paints. The artist is very good at showing the love that the two characters have for each other even to the point where you can feel it radiating off the page. There are certain illustrations where they are looking into each other eyes with such a mother and son bond which sounds rather strange considering I am talking about a children's story.

There is quite a lot of text on each page but they are typed very clearly and are bold and easy to read. Some of the text depicts the words that are being said like for instance 'Loudly' is written in big, bold lettering. There are no complicated words and I would say that it would be easily understood by a two year old.

Noah loved this story and especially loved the fact that there were some repetitive parts to it so he could join in on occasions. It wasn't too long that he got fed up before the end but it wasn't too short that I had to read it twenty times in a row! He really enjoyed studying the pictures and copying little chick when he pulled funny face's. I think he really understood the concept of the book and it was a really nice bonding experience for us both and at the end he said 'love you mummy' which is just priceless. A book must be good if you get a response like that at the end of a story.

As a parent I often feel guilty when I get a little worked up with my children. When I shout I question whether Noah understands that I still love him even when I don't like what he has just done. This book is excellent at explaining this concept in a very practical and child friendly way. Since reading it I have felt much more confident in being able to explain how I didn't like his actions but, as the book says 'Sometimes you make me mad, sometimes you make me sad but no matter what you say or do, I will always love you'. We use that term now after he has been told off and I know that he really understands it.

This book has been a wonderful read for both of us but a really useful tool for me as a mum. I would recommend it to any parent that feels guilty and worries that their child may feel unwanted as a result of disciplining them. I will definitely borrow it from the library again when Elijah is old enough to understand the concept.

The olnydown side to this story is the fact that the pages are made of paper so it's no good for the younger child but other than that I can't think of anything else!

The book costs £10.99 in Waterstones which is quite expensive for a child's book but I definitely wouldn't hesitate in paying this price for it as it's worth every penny. If you don't want to spend that much then I'm sure you could pick up for a bit less on Amazon or you could see if your local library could get hold of it for you.

If you liked this book then Jeanne has written other stories which you might like to try and these are Shamanka, The Monster Bed and Dr Xargle's book of.......(Series).

Summary: An excellent story!