Love You Forever
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Love You Forever is a short book written by Robert Munsch and published in 1986. It tells the story of the evolving relationship between a boy and his mother. Though the book is considered to be part of the children's literature genre, it is perhaps even more popular with mothers. It was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies).[1] Maria Shriver wrote in O, The Oprah Magazine, "I have yet to read this book through without crying. It says so much about the circle of life, youth, parenting, and our responsibility for our parents as we grow older. The message is so simple yet so profound. Love You Forever is a great gift for anyone with a child, or even for your own parents."[2]
The book is prominently featured in the Friends episode The One with the Cake. In the episode, Joey performs a dramatic reading of the book at Emma's first birthday, moving everyone to tears. Inspired by this, Joey later decides to recite the book as a dramatic monologue at an audition.
[edit] Story
The story begins while a son has just been born. The story then continues through the life of the boy until he is a grown man. The mother continues to rock her son to sleep singing "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be." Later, the role is reversed and he holds his elderly mother and says "I'll love you forever I'll like you for always as long as I'm living my Mommy you'll be." At the very end of the story, he is the father of a little girl, rocking her to sleep singing the same song that his mother used to sing to him.
[edit] References
- ^ "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books". Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA186995.html. Retrieved on September 25, 2006.
- ^ Shriver, Maria (December 2001). "Love You Forever - Review". O: The Oprah Magazine. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KNJ/is_12_2/ai_80206397. Retrieved on 2008-09-04.
