Review: I Love You, My Dear
I Love You, My Dear by Chaya Baron, illustrated by Nancy Munger Hachai Publishing Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld This book is old-fashioned in its art, Orthodox in its depictions, rhyming in its text, and reverent in its tone toward the arrival of newborns in the world, and the love between traditional parents (and two older siblings) with the baby. As such, it's not for everyone. But for the people for whom it is right, or who are willing to stretch their boundaries a bit and step into a world that might not be their own, it's a winner. There's a glossary at the start for a few terms that might be unfamiliar. Munger's art shows a close Ashkenazi Orthodox family, with enough variance in skin color -- especially in a grandmother -- that it's impossible to code everyone as white. Another nifty art feat, supported by Baron's second-person voice text, is that the new arrival in the family is not named, nor specifically referred to as male or fem