I Promise You (The Promises Series): A Board Book

by Christine Roussey

Overview

From the bestselling illustrator of the Growing Hearts series comes I Promise You, a sweet and charming full color board book in the Promises series about all the things we want to promise children.

With simple text and bestselling illustrator Christine Roussey’s signature whimsical art, a child will hear of all the things their caregivers can promise them in this life––from joy to wonder to regret, and even the smaller moments in life, like cleaning your room and being told to zip up your coat (yes, all the way!).

Die-cuts on the cover and throughout the book offer something exciting for little ones to see on each page in this loving ode to growing up and everything that life has to offer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419753800
Publisher:	Abrams Appleseed
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Series:	The Promises
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.05(d)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Christine Roussey is the illustrator of many books for young readers, including the Growing Hearts series, My Lazy Cat, My Stinky Dog, and My Funny Bunny. She lives in Paris.

Editorial Reviews

2021-12-27
A loving narrator utters a string of promises to a bevy of tots.

The guarantees are largely conceptual and seemingly chosen for sentiment and rhythmic effect rather than for their toddler audience. “I promise you AGAIN and ONE LAST TIME,” reads the opening text as a paper-white child plays on a swing against a backdrop of falling leaves (all of them green, oddly). The following spread concludes the uneven rhyme as a Black-presenting child gazes at a neat tower of apples, from which a worm looks back: “I promise you some YUM, THAT’S GOOD! and YUCK! NEVER MIND!” On a spread showing another Black-presenting child teetering on top of an architecturally impossible stacking-toy sculpture, a burst of assurances cover good habits and routine social interactions: “I promise you CLEAN YOUR ROOM, BLOW YOUR NOSE, ZIP UP YOUR COAT—YES, ALL THE WAY, / some HELLO, GOODBYE, and SEE YOU ANOTHER DAY….” Here the slip in scansion in this uncredited translation from the French is noticeable. Roussey’s illustrations are mostly wispily allusive; her trademark selectively-colored children all sport enormous, round heads, ears that stick out, and flat noses. Unfortunately, this stylized aesthetic too easily resembles racist simianization when applied to a Black-presenting child in one image. Die-cut shapes offering peekaboo glimpses of succeeding pages are mostly merely decorative.

Not very promising at all. (Board book. 1-3)

Kirkus Reviews