This hugely popular book now available in paperback and with CD read by Niamh Cusack Written and illustrated by a very successful and prizewinning author
Debi Gliori is the author / illustrator of many books for children including Mr Bear, the winner of the Children's Book Award. She lives and works in Scotland. Debi now has four children and No Matter What is dedicated to them. She has also written Give Him My Heart and the forthcoming picture book The Trouble With Dragons (October 2008) for Bloomsbury.
PreS-Feeling grumpy, Small, a little fox, has a tantrum that turns the living room topsy-turvy, after which he questions Large about the resiliency and endurance of his parental love-"If I were a grumpy grizzly bear,/would you still love me?/Would you still care?" or "...if I turned into a squishy bug,/would you still love me and give me a hug?" Ever patient, Large reassures him that "I'd always love you,/no matter what...we may be close, we may be far,/but our love still surrounds us.../wherever we are." The charming watercolor illustrations show warm golds and browns with candlelight and fireside indoors and the cold, blue-and-gray night outside. The rhyming text and large, often double-page spreads make this book useful for story programs. There are many recognizable similarities in Small's world and that of a young child's-dinner in a high chair, bath time, bedtime stories, and favorite toys. Great for fans of Barbara Joosse's Mama, Do You Love Me? (Chronicle, 1991) or Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You (Candlewick, 1995).-Marlene Gawron, Orange County Library, Orlando, FL Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Gliori (Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep) here explores anxiety about the limits of a parent's loveÄespecially whether it can survive a bout of pint-size bad behavior. With a gentle, rhyming text and illustrations that exude a snuggly warmth, she offers a reassuring, though ultimately cloying answer. As bedtime nears, a cute little fox named Small who's feeling "grim and grumpy" (and whose parent, Large, is pictured chatting on the phone) acts out by upturning the living room. When Large asks what's wrong, Small begins interrogating Large (neither character's gender is specified): "If I were a grumpy grizzly bear, would you still love me? Would you still care?" "I'd always love you, no matter what," responds Large. As in books like Lisa McCourt's I Love You, Stinky Face, the child ups the ante with unpleasant scenarios: what if Small were some other ostensibly uncuddly creature, like a squishy bug or a crocodile? "No matter what" comes the answer againÄand Gliori's warmly comic depictions of Large's abiding affections drive home the unconditionality of parental love. Unfortunately, Gliori pushes her point a bit too hard with a closing treacly analogy to the light of stars: "We may be close, we may be far,/ but our love still surrounds us.../ wherever we are." Still, few authors wear their hearts on their sleeves so effectively. Ages 2-6. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
'This is an instant childhood classic for anyone over the age of three' Independent on Sunday 'With gentle rhyming text, humorous pictorial detail and themes which can be explored and re-explored, this is a brilliant gem of a book' Guardian 'The literary equivalent of a big hug' The Times
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