Little children are just the cutest things in the world, and I’m sure that as parents or doting aunts and uncles, we’ve all had a child enter our lives that we’re just sure we could eat. My two-year-old is a “sandwich” – that’s what we’ve always called him, because he’s just so edible.
“I Could Eat You Up!” by Jo Harper celebrates that special bond between children and parents that makes the children so very delicious – and we discover that in the animal kingdom, the parents feel very much about their children the way that we as humans do.
We see a mother hen doting on her sweet little chicks, and a mother cow with her baby calf. A mother bear sits her cub down in front of a jar of honey, and ties a bib around his neck so he won’t get messy. A mother (yes, a human this time) scoops her baby up out of the tub and wraps him tight in a towel with a big hug, while a monkey plays with her little baby monkey daughter after tying a red ribbon around her head.
A mare nuzzles the head of her foal, and another human mother and child go on a picnic together to share some fresh peaches. A rabbit parent gardens with a baby rabbit, who clutches a little rabbit doll all its very own.
A mother cat pours her kitten a cup of catnip tea, and a dog takes his son fishing in a boat. A mother raccoon feeds fresh berries to her baby, while a mother and baby elephant gleefully share a bowl of peanuts.
On every page, and in every corner of the animal kingdom, it is emphasized how very much parents love their children, so much that they could just eat them up. In a world where so many things are uncertain, isn’t it wonderful that there are some things that just never change?
(This book was published in 2007 by Holiday House and was illustrated by Kay Chorao.)
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