Your little one is your little ducky.
You tell her you love her, and she really knows it. She knows because you take care of her, make sure she’s got snacks and toys, teach her, and keep her safe. And in the new book “Love Is” by Diane Adams, illustrated by Claire Keane, you’ll see how love works.
Much as you love spending time with her, there’s something you don’t like to think about: one day, she’ll be a big kid, and though she’ll still need her Mama, she’ll go off to college, get married, and maybe have a little ducky of her own. That means Mama will miss her and might be a bit sad.
Ah, but she’ll be back. She loves Mom just as much as you love her. It’s just that “even ducklings, like the seasons, have to change.”
But some things never change. Like love, they stay the same forever — and sometimes, they “grow some, too.”
Let me surprise you here: “Love Is” isn’t merely a book for small children.
I absolutely saw this book as something a mom will hold dear because Adams and Keane have created a story that speaks to a mother’s love. The little girl in this book is adorable, and her concern for the duckling she finds is so sweet; Keane and Adams tell a human tale in the form of a little rhyme to match the artwork. We see the wistfulness of the girl as she realizes that she must let her duckling go, the sadness of knowing she did the only right thing, and the joyfulness when the baby returns to the apart-nest.
There’s no doubt in my mind that 3- to 5-year-olds will love a read-aloud of this book, but the real audience is new mothers and moms-to-be. For them, “Love Is” is everything it’s quacked up to be.
“Love Is,” by Diane Adams [32 pages, 2017, $15.99].
Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old, and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill with two dogs and 12,000 books.
