A CRAZY-MUCH LOVE, by Joy Jordan-Lake and Sonia Sánchez, Two Lions, Sept. 17, 2019, $17.99 (ages 3-7)
At first glance, the cover of A Crazy-Much Love makes the book seem as though it’s holiday themed. Shades of red and green, leaves evoking pine needles and grownups wearing scarves all add to this supposition. Instead the book celebrates a more personal holiday — the adoption of a child.
“How much is the crazy-much love?” Two parents answer this question as they tell their daughter how she came to be an integral part of their family. From the wait to pick her up to the girl’s first day of school, the turn of each page features milestones for this little family.
Though my daughter was not adopted, A Crazy-Much Love still resonated with me. While we didn’t travel around the world to welcome her, we did feel the same sense of longing and nervous energy as her birthday neared. And now, as she has started kindergarten, our family recounts milestones each night.
A Crazy-Much Love is a lovely book about adoption with lyrical text and bold illustrations that fairly jump off the page. This would be a delightful gift for an adoptive family, but other families will also see themselves within the pages.
