I was never a big fan of most of those ubiquitous “I love you forever and ever” style board books that we seemed to amass during the baby shower days. Especially that weird one with the mother breaking into her grown son’s home to rock him to sleep. (Apologies if that’s your favorite.) So when I saw the title, I Wish You More, I admit my first instinct was, oh no…not another.
Then I noticed it was written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, author of faves like Rabbit! Duck! and more recently, I Scream for Ice Cream: A Book of Wordles and I knew I was in for something unexpected.
Indeed, the prose–which mercifully doesn’t rhyme–hits all the right emotional notes while imparting various wishes from parent to child, all without ever falling back on those get-a-Kleenex stereotypical images. There’s even some unexpected humor.
The series of wishes include ideas like I wish you more pause than fast forward, I wish you more tippy-toes than deep (think about it), I wish you more we than me, and my kids’ favorite, I wish you more can than knot–accompanied by Tom Lichtenheld’s charming illustration of a girl struggling to tie her shoes.
For some reason though, it wasn’t the beautiful final page that produced the catch in my throat as I read it aloud the first time; it was the image accompanying I wish you more treasures than pockets.
Something about seeing a toddler on a beach with hands and swim trunks overstuffed with shells and sand dollars brought back powerful, treasured memories of my own family, and perfectly captured my wishes for my kids in a way I’d never expressed it myself. Surely there’s a page in here that will make you feel the same. That’s why I Wish You More feels like it’s going to be a new classic.
Preorder the new I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld on our affiliate Amazon, for a ship date of 3/31/15, or find it in your local indie bookseller.
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