Before You Were Born by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo
This lovely book is a perfect gift for a new mother or father, and a perfect bedtime read for a little one, sending them to sleep with lovely images and the comfort of knowing how much they are loved. It tells through rhyming phrases of the parents' love for their child even before he or she arrived.
I loved this author/illustrator combination in a previous book Sun Dog, and this book was even better. The lyricism of Kerbel's words is beautiful, each phrase of anticipation leading you on to the next page. It just flows and the words are full of love. I loved the phrase "a mountain of promise, a valley of calm".
Del Rizzo's 3D illustrations using polymer clay bring everything to life, from the animals are birds, to the trees, flowers and other plants. And the details were just right: the lanterns hanging in the trees, the expressions of the faces of all the creatures, the feathers and fur and rubbery-looking noses, the surface of the moon, the bear's tongue, the raindrops on leaves,
One of my favourite is the scene of the birch forest, with a woman leaning on a tree, enjoying the world around her, with birds in the trees above, deer and foxes, and the water beyond. I wanted to step into it.
An absolutely beautiful picture book
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