ANNOTATION

Parents describe how their child is always in their hearts, no matter where they are or what they are doing.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Bang (When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry) creates a love letter from mother to child with a startling visual conceit. When the narrator, a delightfully funky mom, says, "I feel something in my heart," she looks inside and, with a turn of the page, shows readers its contents: a heart-shaped image that fairly bursts from the spread, featuring her child (and, occasionally, other members of the family) literally curled up inside. Whether the mother is at work (as a veterinarian), or the child is busy at school, or even "when it's so dark and cold/ that even penguins and polar bears/ Hide their heads inside their chests and shiver/ .../ you are still inside my heart." Some readers may find that the heart image takes some getting used to (grown-ups may be reminded of Christianity's sacred heart iconography), but Bang expertly conjures a dreamy mood. Borrowing the earthy, repetitive cadences of spirituals and the blues, the narrative hums ("Mmm-/ hmmm./ You got it./ Still here in my heart") and croons ("I look inside my heart,/ See you sitting there, and/ Happy jumps right back in my front door"). The drawings, a combination of watercolor, collage and digital artwork, combine a hippie aesthetic with the spontaneity of doodles: figures often float in space against flattened perspectives, while hand-lettered text takes shape from leaves, clouds and even squirted toothpaste. Bang's heart is most definitely in the right place. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Bang offers loving reassurance for the anxiety of the very young when mother and dad leave them. As she takes us through the daily activities of a busy mother and of the child at play, she reaffirms for the child that the mother always finds "you! Right here in my heart." Wherever she is, whatever they are doing, she answers all questions with "Still here in my heart." From the usual daily routines, her imagination takes her through terrible weather to places hot and dry or dark and cold, but then back home to a loving embrace. The satisfying, wordless conclusion shows that the child's heart is also full, enclosing all the loving people in his/her life. The story is told in detailed non-naturalistic watercolors with bits of collage and "some imagery created in Adobe Photoshop." The pages are designed imaginatively to create happy surprises. Bang has also done some hand-lettering, designing letters which also act as stage props for the actions. The visual sequences are loaded with the warm emotions of this multiracial family. 2006, Little Brown and Company, Ages 3 to 6.

School Library Journal

PreS-K-A cheerfully reassuring book in which a mother describes her day and that of her child, during which she unfailingly holds the boy in her heart. The cast of characters (family, colleagues, and friends) is multicultural. Mixed-media illustrations, as busy as the woman's day, are rendered in bright, saturated colors. Many of the beginning letters of the words are oversize and become a part of the artwork (e.g., the "Y" in a "You" is depicted as two crossed hands holding a heart in which the child floats). Hearts abound. Though the theme of a parent's devotion even in absence is consistent to the point of repetitiveness, the layout and design are not. From full-bleed spreads to neatly framed vignettes to two pages of illustrated building blocks, there is a lack of coherence in composition that seems to stand in opposition to the intended message. Not a real story, but for the child for whom separation brings anxiety, a warmhearted antidote.-Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Heartfelt verbal and visual images strongly validate the invisible, invincible ties binding parent and child in this upbeat affirmation. A mother lovingly reminds her son that every morning after she kisses him goodbye and heads to work, she feels something inside and, when she looks, she finds him in her heart. No matter what she's doing all day long at work, he remains in her heart. And when she comes back home at night and he's tucked "toasty warm in bed," he's still inside her heart. She reassures him that "I can't go anyplace without you!" Even in the worst weather, she feels him snug inside her. Set against a bustling multicultural urban backdrop, watercolor and collage illustrations track in brilliant and comforting detail the breakfast through bedtime activities of parent and child. Bang's masterful use of color and shape to evoke emotion, her representation of the mother with a heart literally enclosing the child and her creative juxtaposition of playful illuminated letters reinforce the parent-child bond. Happy and heartwarming. (Picture book. 2-6)