I Love You More Than…

PreS-Gr 1—This book is more than just a beautiful love letter from a father to his child, it also provides the reassurance so many children need when they are separated from their parents. It opens with a father in a hotel room waving at a tablet, luggage strewn about the floor and the words "My child" vibrantly standing out against a golden background. On the opposite page, a child of indeterminate gender weeps and holds a tablet while these words appear above: "I am not always with you as much as I'd like." This is not a sorrowful story, though, but one of jubilation. The father comforts his child and says that even when they're not together, his child is in his mind and heart. Diggs uses pattern and repetition to create vignettes that show how he loves the little one more than he cherishes his favorite things and then describes something they do together. For example, the father loves his child more than dancing, although he loves it when they make up dance moves together. Filled with vibrant mixed media artwork, many of the spreads celebrate the bond that exists between this black father and child. Besides dancing, they sing, watch 3-D movies, walk the beach, eat stacks of mile-high pancakes, and ride the subway in New York City. It ends with the dad coming home, arms wrapped tight around the youngster. There is no better feeling than this, and the silliness and joy expressed between the real heartache of missing the one "you love more than everything" makes this a true gem.