YOU ARE A GIFT TO ME!

A love letter from caregivers to their babes.

“You are a gift to me sent from above. / One I will always cherish and love!” Subsequent pages share eight further rhymed couplets expressing similar sentiments. Each couplet is paired with an illustration of an animal caregiver and smaller of the same species playfully interacting. Magsamen outlines each critter in her signature faux stitchwork. There are a dog and pup, an owl and owlet, and a sheep and lamb, to name a few. Gender is never identified in the text, making the work useful for a broad spectrum of caregiver-child relationships. Most of the duos are sweetly enticing and adorned with hearts as noses or other decorations. Some of the duos are a bit too matched, as the grown-up chicken looks like an enlarged baby chick and both adult deer and fawn have antlers, bucking biology. Keywords in the rhymes appear written in colorful lettering and outlined in stitchwork, but the rest of the text appears in white; when the text is set on pale backgrounds, it might be difficult for those with vision issues to discern. On the first recto there is an illustration of a wrapped present on which grown-ups can personalize the book for the little ones in their lives.

Tender or saccharine depending on taste, but a sentimental gift choice for a wide range of caregivers.