My Arms Will Hold You Tight

by Crystal Bowman, Teri McKinley, Anna Kubaszewska (Illustrator)

Overview

Each 4-color spread in this whimsical board book features illustrations of beloved animals—including llamas, elephants, and sloths—along with fun surprises like bats and flamingos. Authors Crystal Bowman and Teri McKinley are masterful with rhyming and bring the tenderness of heartfelt love between these adorable baby animals and their parents to life. My Arms Will Hold You Tight will appeal to the whole family and is sure to be a favorite book for Mom, Dad, Grandma, or Grandpa to read with their precious little ones.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496446220
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	01/12/2021
Pages:	26
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 5.90(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 4 Years

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2021

Baby-Toddler—A parent's loving hug is all these baby animals need. Within their respective habitats, every parent and baby pairing appears ensconced in a safe embrace, surrounded by soft multi-hued pastels. Woven with poetic words about a parent's love and joy, each rhyme would be a comfort to hear at bedtime.

School Library Journal

2021-03-02
A rhyming board book about the love between a parent and child.

As the title suggests, this offering is all about the ways that caregivers love, protect, care for, and cherish their children. Each turn of the page reveals a new adult-child animal pair with its own rhyming stanza. The text explores many facets of parental love—celebrating it not just when things are sunny, but also on stormy days and through sadness. One particularly sweet rhyme relates, “I’ll hold you when sadness / and tears fill your eyes. / My arms will be there / to catch all your cries.” Most of the text includes simple rhymes (sky/fly and sand/hand for example), and none are forced or read aloud awkwardly. The illustrations include anthropomorphized animals in mostly bright pastels with simple smiling expressions. Much like the text, they’re cute enough, but there’s not a lot of variation in style. The bat pup wrapped up in its parent’s wings is an especially darling pair; they do indeed look “all cozy and snug.” Glancing references to “prayers” and “God” give the text a slight religious edge, though the book is otherwise secular. Given that this is designed to be shared with a lap-sitting child, it’s a bit lengthy.

Undeniably sweet even if neither theme nor treatment is particularly new. (Board book. 1-3)

Kirkus Reviews