No picture book collection is complete without a few Robert Munsch classics.

Welcome to Munsch Week on Reading with a Chance of Tacos.

Robert Munsch is my absolute favourite storyteller. I was introduced to his work when my Canadian relatives sent books over for my son, Max, when he was born. Max absolutely loved them, and over the years we sent back to Canada for more Munsch classics.

He is super popular in Canada and North America (Munsch, not Max, although Max has a few fans), but, for some reason we don’t get many Munsch books in stores in Australia, apart from ‘Love you forever’, which I’ve seen in a few shops. This is a massive shame because his stories are very quirky and so much fun to read. Which is what kids books should be all about.

Over the next week, I’ll review  more of my favourite Munsch classics.

Today, let’s start with Love you forever. First published by Firefly Books in 1986, It was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children’s Books list for paperbacks. And, is still in shops around the world today.

A mother holds her baby son and slowly rocks him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and sings to him that she’ll love him forever.

But Babies grow up. They grow and they grow and they grow.

The baby grows through each stage of childhood –  from baby to boy to teenager – getting into all kinds of mischief, until he becomes a man, moves out of home and has children of his own. But all the while, mum sings to her child that she’ll love him forever.

It’s the story of a mothers undying love for her child and how that love crosses generations.

This is a little different to most Munsch books. This book seemed to be inspired by personal tragedy. The details of which are beautifully captured by the Huffpost in this article with Robert Munsch: Click here to read.

Most Munsch stories seem to come gradually through his storytelling. He often performs his stories to a crowd before writing anything down, this way his wacky stories have a real sense of fun about them. 

Details:

Author: Robert Munsch

Illustrator: Sheila McGraw

Pulishers: Firefly Books, 1986

Join us tomorrow as we review the Munsch classic, Mortimer. Of course, you don’t have to wait for tomorrow’s post to see and hear a Munsch classic, you can head to his official website: https://robertmunsch.com/ where he actually reads most of his stories on his site. It’s definitely worth checking out. If you like them, I’m sure your local bookstore can order them in. We want to see more Munsch books in Australia.