Giveaway! Love You Always by Eileen Spinelli

Today we have another blog tour with Worthy Kids/Ideals. I’m so excited to share a new release from acclaimed children’s book author Eileen Spinelli called Love You Always. I love finding her books at the library for the girls! Our favorites include Thankful, Cold Snap, and Sophie’s Masterpiece: A Spider’s Tale. She is definitely an author with a big catalog to explore!

Love You Always is a book you will want to tuck into that sweet new baby gift at the next baby shower. Spinelli’s lyrical verse expresses perfectly the heaps of unconditional love all parents feel for their child.

It affirms and reassures again and again naughty or nice, happy or sad, love is always. “You can giggle, cry or pout, but you are loved without a doubt, upside-down and inside-out!” The illustrations are sentimental and sweet, showing scenes from a typical childhood – bath time, play time, naps, autumn leaf piles and spring time puddle jumping.

Spinelli reaches beyond just mommy and daddy, and includes grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts, and even family friends. The phrase “it takes a village” comes to mind, as with each page someone new is pouring their always kind of love into the child.

The book has been criticized for its lack of diversity for portraying just a few POC throughout the text. My other qualm is that while I love the message that it takes many people supporting a child with love, many (if not most) families do not look like the nuclear family celebrated in this book, whether from loss, divorce, or the dynamics of blended families.  I have learned from experience that sometimes books that accentuate what our families don’t look like can be confusing or hurtful, so always know the family realities of a person you might gift this to.

Still, this is a sweet book getting at something universal: the always kind of love all family trees are built on. “Sweet leaf on the family tree, you are steeped in love like tea. Always. Always.”

You can find a copy from our local bookstore here, AND I’m doing another giveaway where one lucky reader (U.S Residents) can win a copy from the publisher.  Let me know in the comments which Eileen Spinelli book is your favorite, or if you haven’t read any of her books yet, which you want to check out! Big thanks to Worthy Kids/Ideals for sponsoring our giveaway and sending us a review copy of Love You Always! 

Winner will be announced October 5!

Happy reading!