Product Description

If kisses were colors you'd see every one
of the bands of a rainbow that shines in the sun.

Perfect as a Mother's Day or baby shower gift, this tender book expresses the immeasurable love that parents have for their children-warmer than a wool blanket, sturdier than an oak tree, brighter than a rainbow. It's a sentiment that will soothe and delight the adults as well as their youngsters, and the lyrical verse is complemented by delicate, fanciful paintings that possess a timeless beauty and charm.

Illustrated by Alison Jay.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38072 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780803726178
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-A slightly offbeat approach to the familiar topic of parental love. Lawler's verses are simple but the images evoked are sometimes unexpected. Kisses are characterized as colors, pebbles, comets, flowers, raindrops, acorns, snowflakes, and blankets. In each case, abundance is the norm. "If kisses were colors, you'd see every one/of the bands of a rainbow that shines in the sun./If kisses were pebbles, your beach would be lined/with stones by the millions, of all shapes and kinds." Jay's distinctive artwork, "created using alkyd oil paint on paper with crackling varnish," amplifies the verses. Unusual portraits show a pensive pebble, a smiling flower, a welcoming acorn. In other illustrations, anthropomorphic animal children dance together under a rainbow, collect pebbles on a beach, etc. A human mother and child appear on the first page and the last. For adults drawn to Jay's imaginative artwork and/or Lawler's sweetly expressed affection, this book provides an interesting alternative to books like Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You (Candlewick, 1995). It's unclear, however, whether its quiet whimsy will have broad child appeal.
Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 1. Lawler successfully transforms the often quoted "If wishes were horses, beggars might ride" into a tender picture book of musings directed to very young children. Rhymed couplets pose the question, "If kisses were . . . " for colors, pebbles, comets, flowers, raindrops, acorns, snowflakes, and blankets, ending with a mother's kisses: "My kisses are colors, and raindrops that flow, and pebbles, and acorns, and comets that glow. . . . " The soft, stylized oil paintings with crackling varnish resemble folk art and create a warmhearted feeling as five animals--a penguin, an elephant, a goose, a rabbit, and a pig--act out the suppositions. Endpapers show Mom and the animals pushing baby carriages. Little ones may not comprehend the metaphors, but they'll nestle into this fresh, quiet, affectionate story that may inspire some children to think of their own "what ifs." Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"...This affectionate volume will induce a contented feeling as surely as it will inspire loving kisses. All ages." -- Publishers Weekly, December 9, 2002

"The logic of love transforms the world here... This book brings a world of love to the lap-reading crowd." -- Chicago Tribune,Children's Corner,March 16, 2003

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and Fun To Read
This is a great book, not just for kids, but for the parents who have to read it to them. My kids (4 1/2 and 3) love the slightly quirky, colorful illustrations and the simple, rhyming text. They always laugh at the fun paintings of elephants with strollers and acorn men. And it's just as much of a treat for me to read after having to endure so many mind-numbing, repititious kids books. Definitely one of the best kids/parents books to come along since Don Carter's "Heaven's All-Star Jazz Band."

Tender, classic, imaginative
The story is a wonderful expression of love from a parent to a child. The story is simple and beautiful and the illustrations are old fashioned yet very new. My 14 month old loves the story and the extra kisses that inevitably become part of the reading.

My 4 year old son just loves this book
And I am a little surprised about that because he's very much a smash up cars, trucks, big wheels, type of kid. When I read it to him the first time there was complete silence. Very unusual for my boy!!! Then we read it again, and again. We looked at the pictures as we went, he was asking questions, wanted to know what the acorn was, and the comet. Then after we had read it again, he took the book to his father and "read" him the story. The illustrations are just beautiful.