Love You Forever

Rating:
Summary: Illustrations are important!
Review: The first time I read this book which I just came across accidentally in the book store, I thought it was beautiful and I cried but I didn't buy it because some of the illustrations in that version struck me as creepy, and I couldn't afford it.
I felt a bit bad about not buying it because I loved it.
Then I saw it again with pictures by another illustrator and I was so glad I hadn't bought the first copy. These pictures were so cute and off set the intensity and the sad bit of the story, (which by the way my son doesn't notice)
The version shown here seems to be of an edition with pictures by yet another illustrator.
My edition is actually called "I'll love you forever" which I bought in New Zealand. In this version the boy has a dog in it that grows up with him and EVERYTHING such as the tree in his backyard and the decor in his room grows and changes with him and it's all so cute.
There is no ladder tied to the car, the mother lets herself in with a key her son gave her and rocks him back and forth. This is fantasy and for a 4-year-old it is comforting to think that Mummy will still rock him and sing to him when he is a big man and the older child will just find it humorous.
My 4-year-old son loves this book He mostly wants to hear stories about Thomas the Tank Engine but he is just as keen to hear this book. I did worry about the hint that the boy's mother is dying but my son doesn't get that bit. That's written for the mother. He just thinks the mother is sick that day.
It's was the most beautiful book I could find for my son and as a woman with a Master Degree in English Lit I take pleasure in the way the rhythm of the book flows off the tongue. In fairness to the critics it is a book to be read by mothers who are intense people who are overwhelmed with the love they feel for the child. There are some people in the world who are just too cowardly and shallow to understand that kind of intensity. That is both their good fortune and their loss.

Rating:
Summary: there are better books....
Review: I got the author's point about unconditional love... but I just don't like the fact that this book got some controversy issue. There are many ways of showing unconditional love in better ways than "stalking" the loved ones. no? And plus, I just don't like the setting with single mother and single dad. Why can a children's book depict happier and more ideal surrounding? Just for the fact that either people love this book with tears coming out or hate it to throw it away, i would not read this to my little one. There are many ways I can show her my unconditional love... I wouldn't want to be following my child around (for the ones who loved this book, I can understand) but I rather just be there for her whenever she needs me...

Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: Those of you that truly believe in a mothers unconditional love for her child, and the child loving her just as unconditionally, will without a doubt find that your eyes fill with tears as you read this gem of a book. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It truly is a heartwarming story filled with love and one that I will enjoy with my children for years to come. I hope they too read it to their children.

Rating:
Summary: this book made me cry!
Review: I loved this book! It's a simple story about how a mother and son show each other love at different points in their lives.

I found the book very touching. It surprises me that there are so many negative reviews about this book. Maybe its because they didn't get along with their mother and at a subconscious level this book evokes much hate, guilt, resentment. Who knows?

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

Rating:
Summary: How sad some people can be
Review: How sad to think that some people cannot see the difference between reality and fiction.
I recently purchased this book for my daughter in law to give to our grandson,but upon reading it, realized that it understood the depth of a mothers love for her children and grandchildren regardless of how old they are. I have decided to purchase 2 more copies for my other grown up children to keep for when they too have children of their own. I'm sure they all will enjoy this book for what it simply is : A Mothers Lifelong Love For Her Child Regardless of Age,Understanding That He Will Have The Same Love For His Children That She Has Passed Onto Him Or Her.

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Summary: Cannot read this without crying....EVER!
Review: This is a great book, and after each one of our three kids tore theirs up when they were still little, we bought new ones, and now we are buying hard back versions to give to them as they enter adulthood, even though we have a few years.
It brings to mind the realtionship of your own Parents and the relationship of your children and their children. It is a beautiful story for the ages.

Rating:
Summary: I will love this book never and hate it for always
Review: Um, gross? This book was not cute nor was it heart warming. It was slimy, creepy and just seemed wrong. I understand what the author was trying to make the audience see/feel. Really I do. (although I have to wonder if maybe incestuous undertones were his original implications. But i digress..)But it got way exaggerated and over the top and I would even go as far to say out of control. A woman sings to her infant baby and rocks him to sleep every night. How cute. But she continues to do this into his teenage years where she then CRAWLS into his room on all fours in the darkness and either stares at him for God only knows how long, or takes it a step further by slithering into his bed and rocking him to sleep. As if that isnt bad enough, when the son is a 30 something year old man living in his own home, mommy dearest drives across town in the middle of the night with a ladder tied to her car. She then puts the ladder against the house and climbs up into her adult son's bedroom through the window and once again climbs into bed and rocks him in her arms (or picks him up and does so on her lap. I cant remember which, but does it really matter? You get the point). Then the tables turn when mother is ill and can no longer stalk her "baby boy" So what does sonny boy do? He then visits mommy and hold HER on HIS lap and cradles her and sings to her. Then he goes home and picks up his infant daughter and sings that same song to her. Nooo the nightmare continues!! Honestly, at this point I dont care what Robert Munichs intentions were. It was poorly executed and left me feeling yucky. This mother had some serious "letting go" issues and the son maybe was more of a freak for allowing his mother to do this to him nightly. I dont care if it was a childrens book, I took the message literally. I had to, because the sweet and potentially endearing message was just blurred by the disturbing obsessively creepy tale of mother and son.

Whats even worse is the point that some previous reviewers made. The stalked son had an infant daughter. Yet he lived in his own home by himself and slept in a single bed. Assuming he adopted this child or found her in a basket with some loaves of bread and pepperoni on his doorstep is looking too far into it. Just where did this baby come from then? Is it possible mother and son produced offspring? For the love of all things holy I certainly hope not, but you have to wonder..

If there are people who disagree with the creepy factor of the book thats fine. But still, its not a good book for children. I think its rather dark and is probably unpleasant for young children to have to think of the demise of their parents one day right before bed time. All people who read this who enjoyed it said it tugged at their heart strings and makes them weep every time. Do children really need to feel that kind of sadness or see mommy cry all the time? No they dont. Read them goodnight moon or something. Skip this for sure. Death is a fact of life, but its not something that a 2-7 years old should have to worry about (since that is the age group that this book is supposed to appeal to) The message of unconditional love is so much better expressed in so many other childrens books. This one is just unsettling and wrong. The message that I got from this was less "ill love you for ever" but rather "its okay to stalk the ones you love" It's subliminally teaching kids to become clingy,dependent,desperate and creepy adults. Okay maybe thats a little far fetched, but so what? So was this book.

Skim through the reviews. There is barely any middle ground. People either LOVE it or HATE it. I apparently hated it because I could not get past the undeniable creepy factor. If they turned this book into a movie, it would probably fall under the "horror" genre rather than "family entertainment" Maybe then people will see this books apparent dark message.

Rating:
Summary: A true Classic for our distorted age, indeed!
Review: My, how I was drawn-in to this lovely story about mutual love between a son and his mother. When I finished it, I thought, "There is something weird about this book, what is it?" I think many readers agree the sneaking-in-with-the-ladder is a bit much. It's just too surreal for me. Yes the sentiments are real and deep, but surely there was a better way to show this. Of course it speaks to the generation where two-parent families (mom and dad, male and female for further clarification) are a disappearing breed. No doubt many single moms (widowed, divorced, or single) would find great empathy with this. It is a touching story, but it seems to stress the finality of death a bit too existentially for me. As a high school physics and latin teacher, whose worldview has been largely fashioned by the classics and historic Christianity, I would never read this to my child. I guess I'm just too old school. ...

Rating:
Summary: Good book for those who don't analyze everything
Review: My sister gave this book to me recently and I loved it. Yes, it makes me teary eyed. To those "well-adjusted" folks who think it's about incest and are wondering where the daddy is, etc., I can only imagine what kind of spin you put on The Cat in the Hat? Are you people concerned that the Cat or Thing One or Thing Two are perverts? LIGHTEN UP.

This book is about unconditional love. It's symbolic of a mother's love for her child - no matter how old your child gets, they are always your baby. Get it? If people are taking this so seriously, I can only assume that they didn't like Green Eggs and Ham either for fear of a child eating moldy food.

This is a lovely book for the non-paranoid.

Rating:
Summary: got it as a gift -- am throwing it away
Review: My initial reaction to reading this book, the night of my baby shower, is 'what were they THINKING???' -- both the author and my girlfriend who gave this to me. There are other ways to show your love as a mother to your grown child rather than driving across town, using a LADDER no less to then SNEAK into your grown son's window to then rock him and sing to him. I'm sorry folks, but those of you who say this is okay are fooling yourselves. This is inappropriate, to say the very least, and doesn't belong in a children's book. The concept could have easily been presented in another manner and the book's message remain intact. Additionally, I dare to say that the issue of a parent's death is definitely not one I'd like to present to my daughter before bedtime. I disliked this book so much it went into the trash. There's too many wonderful children's books out there that present parents' unconditional love for their children without this weirdness.