With You Always, Little Monday - Hardcover

GENEVIÈVE CÔTÉ has illustrated a number of children's books, including The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Minn and Jake by Janet S. Wong; and her own What Elephant? Her editorial art has appeared in the New York Times and other publications. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.

PreSchool-Grade 2—A baby rabbit is named Little Monday by the forest animals who find him alone in the forest. One day, the youngster sets off to find his mother, querying Swan, Owl, Bear, and numerous other creatures about whether he is their offspring. The appealing illustrations lend winsome expressions to the bunny, and there is warmth and humor in the telling of his quest. The payoff in such stories as P. D. Eastman's Are You My Mother? (Random, 1967) and Martin Waddell's Owl Babies (Candlewick, 1996) is that the mother shows up, to the child's great relief and joy. Little Monday's parent turns out to live in the moon, unable to come down or even touch him, except for a moonbeam on his cheek. Despite her reassurances—"Even on the darkest nights, even when you can't see me, I'm always with you"—the message does not carry the necessary satisfying ending, a tangible parent, that books with this theme require. A brief author's note explains the myth of the rabbit in the moon in a variety of cultures.—Susan Moorhead, New Rochelle Public Library, NY
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