Both Ways Now: I Love You More by Laura Duksta

I Love You More (a flip-sided book), like Sam McBratney's classic Guess How Much I Love You works a similar theme in a different format. In this one, the author gives the mother and child equal time to plead their case.

"I love you mightier than the mightiest wind ever blew.
I love you fuller than the fullest moon you ever knew," the mother says, going on to describe her love with many comparisons.

At the book's midpoint, the mother turns to her son and asks, "So just how much do you love me?" At this point, the book is flipped and the son replies with his own collection of couplets:

"I love you quieter than the quietest caterpillar ever creeped.
I love you farther than the farthest frog ever leaped."

A clever format helps the author's rhyming text explore the many levels of love in this simply illustrated picture book. Karen Keesler's smudgy, almost primitive paintings fit the poetic text well. For my money, though the best book on this theme is still I Love You the Purplest, in which a young mother wisely loves her two sons differently but the same.