I Love You Stinky Face: Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore

I enjoyed this as a picture book and was excited to see it reissued now in board book format. It was a hugely successful title. I like that it reads as a conversation between mother and child. It's so realistic that I've wondered if the idea sprang from an actual talk Lisa McCourt had with her child.

Mama said, "I love you, my wonderful child."
But I had a question.

Mama, what if I were a big, scary ape? Would you still love me then?

"If you were a big, scary ape, I would make your birthday cake out of bananas, and I would tell you, "I love you, my big, scary ape."

But Mama, but Mama, what if I were a super smelly skunk,
and I smelled so bad that my name was stinky face?

At first glance this is a funny book, but below the surface, it's a reassurance to totz that they are loved no matter what. What could be better than that?

I Love You Stinkyface
Lisa McCourt, author
Cyd Moore, illustrator
Scholastic, 2009

~ review by Joan Holub, author