Customer Reviews
What a sweet book 
2008-05-09
I used to read this book to my daughters when they were little girls. Now they're all grown up and they send me e-mails and include the phrase from the book, "...as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be". They never forgot this book. This book holds a very tender place in our hearts.
Love you Forever 2008-05-03
I have bought this book for all of my children and for everyone that I know who has had a baby, it is the best children's book ever in my opinion. Will make you laugh, will make you cry. Helps children to realize how much we love them, even when they are mischievious and that they are always our babies. Highly recommended!
touching (emotionally so) 2008-05-01
i have loved this book ever since i was young. its a story about unconditional love, how a parent will forever love their children no matter what they do or how old they get or how far away they move. after reading some of the other reviews, i have to say that there is nothing incestuous or morally disturbing about the book. it is about a mother's undying love for her son (this is not in the romantic sense). in fact i think you would have to be sick to warp something so innocent into something so twisted. is unconditional love so rare in society that a person cannot distinguish it from sexual love? must EVERYTHING revolve around sex? i don't know how disconnected some people are to their parents, or if they ever see their grandparents, but having a close family that care enough about you to take an active role in your life is a good thing. when i grow older i won't stop talking to my mother... in fact i may even give her a key to my house so that she may visit me whenever she wishes to do so, even if i live on the other side of town. she will wish to visit me because she cares about me and always will. what i think the more critical reviewers fail to grasp is that this is a story for children, meaning that if an author wants to convey an idea... like i'll love you forever, he'll do so in a way a child can understand. this can of course be twisted by people who watch too much news and are afraid of emotional contact. the sad thing is when the children start picking up on the adult's dirty mental processes and look at this story about how much a mother loves her baby, and sees something bad.
and as for the mother's death at the end of the book... this is not a terrifying way for a child to experience death (hopefully not for the first time). death is very much a part of life. all people will die eventually, which is something all people (even the small ones) must come to understand. and people face death every day of their lives. how do parents explain where hamburgers come from? i'm not advocating to brutally educate your children, i am only suggesting that keeping children ignorant of the basic facts of life is not helping them. if you can't talk to them about death (or for that matter, love between a mother and child), how are you going to talk to them about drugs and abusive relationships?
anyways, this is a touching, heart-warming story that should be enjoyed by all the people who can get their hands on it ^_^
I love this book 2008-04-27
I love this book. I just sent it to a friend who is expecting. Some of the reviews are confusing to me. The book is not to be taken so literally. It speaks of a love toward her child. I guess you like it for what it is or you don't. Oh and, I have raised three children, read them the book and they all turned out all right!
So glad to see I'm not alone! 
2008-04-24
The first time I read this book I thought it was sweet... for the first few pages. By the time there's a picture of the mom driving with a ladder tied to the roof of her car to climb in her grown son's room my husband looked at me and asked what the heck I was reading. I could barely finish we were laughing so hard! I'm so glad to see that there are other people who find this book creepy and ridiculous! Ours is leaving the house!
Pulls at Your Heart Strings 2008-04-20
The mother sings to her sleeping baby: "I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I'm living / My baby you'll be." She still sings the same song when her baby has turned into a fractious 2-year-old, a slovenly 9-year-old, and then a raucous teen. So far so ordinary--but this is one persistent lady. When her son grows up and leaves home, she takes to driving across town with a ladder on the car roof, climbing through her grown son's window, and rocking the sleeping man in the same way. Then, inevitably, the day comes when she's too old and sick to hold him, and the roles are at last reversed. Each stage is illustrated by one of Sheila McGraw's comic and yet poignant pastels. (Ages 4 to 8)
--Richard Farr
Disturbing 2008-04-05
Extremely creepy and unhealthy. I do not recommend this as a model for motherly love.
Models unhealthy relationships 2008-04-03
As a psychologist looking for healthy constructive relationships to be represented in my child's books, I too find this book to be disturbing in the way that it normalizes unhealthy behavior and attitudes.
Why must the mother deplore all the son's changing behaviors as he grows? Why can't she continue to actively love him through his inevitable changes? Why must she only express her love at night when the son cannot receive it? Healthy expression of emotion involves loving people through the behaviors we don't care for. In this story, she withholds her love and acceptance as he grows, then can only express it under the cover of darkness, fantasizing that he is still a baby.
In addition, to normalize the invasiveness of this mother's use of a ladder to enter her grown son's bedroom (hello??) and physically cradle him (HELLO??) is truly disturbing. It represents a host of boundary violations, and would be called stalking were they not related. This mother is looking to get her emotional needs met in very inappropriate ways. Ask yourself this: if this were the mother of your husband, or the father of your wife, and this were happening in your home at night, how would you feel about this behavior?
A parent's role is to build and nurture close, healthy ties with their children, but always see them for who they are right now (a large portion of family therapy cases arise out of parents' inability to do this). Although we will always be mothers and fathers, our role as parent is meant to wane as children grow. Failure to understand that is failure to see one's child for who they've grown into, and instead to hold them as "always my baby."
Yes, we will not leave; yes, we will love you forever; yes, you may misbehave, and though we may not like the behavior we will continue to love you--these are healthy messages. The message of this book is that mom may not like who you become and what you do, but she'll invade your house and express her love inappropriately.
**It is important, indeed essential, that we be conscious of the words, messages, and attitudes that we convey to our children.** The attitudes and behaviors in this book are unhealthy, and show inappropriate withholding and displaying of emotion. The author should be in therapy, not writing children's books.
Creepy! 2008-03-30
This book is extremely creepy! The old woman crawling through the bedroom window and over her grown son's body sleeping in his twin bed and then picking him up to rock him while he's still asleep...GROSS! Needless to say, the copy I had was thrown in the garbage.
Creepiest Book EVER 2008-03-29
This book has always been disturbing to me. Talk about not knowing how to let go of your kids. The mother in this book is, frankly, nuts, and the son needs to get a restraining order against her.
What does his wife think about the fact that his mom sneaks in his room and rocks him in the middle of the night? Is nobody else disturbed by that image?
And the people who think this book is sweet--I fear for your children and the relationships you will have with them as adults. Seriously, I understand, as a parent, how you will cherish your relationship with your kids for the rest of your life. But your relationship HAS to change and mature, otherwise...
Well...you'll be like creepy mom. (I will give points for the end where the son loves his mom back, that's kinda sweet...but only if you forget about all the mom-stalking during his adult years.)
DO NOT GIVE THIS BOOK TO ANYONE YOU CARE ABOUT. As they used to say about nuclear weapons: NOT HEALTHY FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER LIVING BEINGS.
