
Mama, Do You Love Me?
Author:
Barbara M. Joose
Illustrator:
Barbara Lavallee
Published by:
Chronicle Books
First Published:
1 Jan 2024
Ideal for readers aged
0-2y
My Review
This was one of my youngest daughter's favourites, and she still often comes up to me and asks, 'Mama, do you love me?' before launching into a re-enactment of all the silly voices and scenarios played out in the story! The book is in the vein of the well known 'Guess How Much I Love You', but is set in the Arctic, and features an Inuit mother and daughter. The daughter throws challenge after challenge at her mother to gauge her responses - 'What if I put salmon in your parka?', 'What if I turned into a bear and chased you?!', 'What if I ran away?' - but all are met with measured and honest, but loving responses from her mother. I loved discovering a book with this same message, set in a culture so different to our own. Beautiful illustrations of a snow-filled world add to the calm feel of the story, and make this a book to remember.
Heads Up!
Barbara Joose also wrote 'Papa. Do You Love Me?', a book on a similar theme, but transposed into a Masai world.