Why Do You Love Me? Just Because You're Mine by Sally Lloyd Jones

"DAD!" SHOUTED LITTLE RED SQUIRREL.

"LOOK AT ME!"

Little Red Squirrel and his dad are playing in the woods, and the little one is eager to show off his skills. He runs as fast as the wind. He climbs way up high in the tree. He knows just how to find super-secret berries.

"HAVE I TOLD YOU TODAY HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?" DAD SAYS.

"BECAUSE WHY?"

"DO YOU LOVE ME BECAUSE I'M ABSOLUTELY BRAVE?"

In Sally Lloyd Jones' latest, Just Because You're Mine (Harper, 2011), the answer is predictable: Dad is proud of all his accomplishments, for sure, but they are not the reason he loves Little Red Squirrel. He loves him, not because he is fast and friendly, brave and handsome, although those are all good things. The answer, in the book's title, is the evergreen reason that parents love their little ones, "just because..." you belong to me and I belong to you. Frank Endersley's soft and soothing illustrations fit Jones' straight-forward text, making this one a great book for Fathers' Day or just any day that Daddy reads the story out loud.

Lloyd-Jones' previous books include the best-selling How to Be a Baby . . . by Me, the Big Sister (How To Series), Being a Pig Is Nice: A Child's-Eye View of Manners, Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story, and Time to Say Goodnight.