I REALLY LIKE MOM

Young animals celebrate their mothers.

The refrain “I really like Mom” anchors this tender tribute, translated from Korean. “I really like Mom. She reads to me,” shares a young monkey clutching a teddy bear, nestled with Mom in a huge book flying beneath a crescent moon. “I really like Mom. She praises me for playing nicely with my friend,” says a bear cub, lifted in the air by a loving mother. “I really like Mom. She gives me kisses,” says an otter cuddled up with Mom as she floats in the water on her back. The message is sweet and earnest, though it’s similar to those of other books spotlighting the mother-child bond. Some parents might raise an eyebrow at the statement that Mom “feels so happy just to be my mom,” since it seems to imply a one-dimensional perspective of motherhood. Mixed-media illustrations depict smiling animals that have the cuddly look of stuffed animals. Some animals appear in domestic settings, such as a pig mother wearing an apron and serving food, though others can be found in their natural habitats, such as a chipmunks scurrying past predators in a forest and sloths hanging from trees. At the conclusion, a light-skinned human mother and child hug in bed. Little ones will have fun looking for an easy-to-spot ladybug throughout.

Tender and heartfelt, though it treads familiar ground.