143. I Love You As Big as Texas

Board book: I Love You As Big as Texas. Rose Rossner. Illustrated by Joanne Partis. 2021. 24 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: I love you as BIG as Texas,
you're my little Lone Star heart.
Together here with you
is always better than apart.
You are my Texas Sweet,
my favorite pecan pie.
Even if you stumble,
I'm here to help you fly.
You're my Texas Adventure,
exploring the unknown.
Fort Worth, Laredo, Amarillo,
but it's you who I call home.

Premise/plot: Another Texas-themed board book. (My library ordered them all at the same time.) This one stars a Mama Bear and a Bear Cub. Every spread ties into Texas somehow, someway. 

My thoughts: There are always, always, always going to be animal books illustrating unconditional love between parent and child. But I'm not personally seeing the need to further push that into unconditional love for the state as well. Texas isn't special. It's just one of dozens (and dozens and dozens) of board books written to "highlight" STATES and CITIES. For example, I love you as big as Kansas City. I love you as big as Kentucky. 

I wouldn't say I hated this one. Hate is WAY too strong a word for so meh a reaction. It's just generic and gimmicky. The rhyming isn't awful. But it's not amazing either.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers