Till When?: I'll Love You Till The Cows Come Home by Kathryn Cristaldi

I'll love you till the yaks come back

for a crazy snack...

In a Cadillac.

How do I love thee? There are lots of ways in literature to count up how, how much, and how long, and Kathryn Cristaldi's just-published I'll Love You Till the Cows Come Home (Harper, 2018) uses the old saying with a comic twist to answer kids' pertinent question for parents... Till when?

I'll love you till seals set sail
for the Isle of Kale.

Past manatees and a humpback whale....

Love will last till all the yaks climb out of their Caddy, till the ants march in with chocolate cake on their chins, to bed down with geese and wandering sheep, and wolves and deer and frogs who all close their eyes...,

Till the moon sprinkles moondust from the skies....

And with a wonderful bit of rhyming whimsy from author Cristaldi, the cows do come home in the gloaming--from a mission to Mars, disembarking from their spaceship just in time for bed. Artist Kristyna Litten portrays fanciful animals--frogs on big wheels, geese flapping down for a bedtime snack of melty s'mores--and it all ends with the answer to the question: Till when?

I will love you till then, and again and again....

Of this quirky bedtime tale, Kirkus Reviews, jokes, "In a crowded genre, this zany title is out standing in its field—along with the cows."

Hands-On! Hands Say Love by George Shannon

HANDS THAT DO ALL THEY CAN DO

ARE ALSO SAYING "I LOVE YOU."

When you think of all the things humans do with their hands, it is clear that hands are perhaps the most human thing about us.

Hands Say Love (Little, Brown and Company, 2014) by George Shannon  and Taeeun Yoo help children understand the meaning of touch and gesture and all it can convey. Hands that dress and feed and cuddle little ones, support them as they learn to walk and ride a bike, that soothe a scrapped knee or play peek-a-boo, all show what it means to parent a child.

Children's hands that stroke their pets, draw pictures and fold a paper hat, Mom's hands that brush and braid hair, children who clap along while Dad plays his guitar, friends who don't forget to turn and wave a goodbye, all are part of being human in unique ways.

HANDS THAT PULL THE COVERS TIGHT,

HANDS THAT SEND A KISS GOOD-NIGHT.

Shannon's simple couplets movingly express the love in such gestures, with Yoo's easy portrayal of all kinds of families and friends which shows how hands convey love in ways that even the youngest child can understand. A Valentine from anyone, to anyone.