The passage of time and the everlasting nature of a parent’s love for a child are intertwined in this charming picture book. Big Mouse answers Little Mouse’s question ‘how long will you love me?’ using the natural world to demonstrate the passage of time as day and night and the seasons come and go.
We see the two playing together in the spring sunshine, on a beach in the hot sun, and as the leaves fall from the trees; throughout Big Mouse repeats the assertion that ‘as you grow bigger, my love stays the same,’ assuring the child that ‘loving you forever’ is what mummies and daddies do best; the final image of the two embracing under the starry sky tenderly reproduces the message in a picture.
How long will I love you? A second is too short. A second is no time for a love of this sort. A minute is no better, for minutes fly by! They're gone in a moment like a sweet butterfly.
Moving through the day, the seasons and then the years, this ode to everlasting love will reassure children and bring a lump to the throat of parents.
Mark Sperring worked as a printer before becoming a bookseller, and later becoming a children's book author. Mark is the author of Dino Mummy, Dino Baby, Dino Daddy, Four Silly Skeletons, I'll Love You Always and The Naughty Naughty Baddies (Bloomsbury), Captain Buckleboots on the Naughty Step (Puffin) and The Sunflower Sword (Andersen). He lives in Bristol.
