We Love You as Much as the Fox Loves Its Tail

In We Love You as Much as the Fox Loves its Tail

What shines in this text is the unbridled joy this family feels as their new baby joins them. By employing the structure of “We’ll love you…” throughout, Kelly invokes the future and the notion that the joy felt today will continue. Any young reader will delight in that message of security. To accompany this lasting narrative, Campeau skillfully draws together modern imagery (the baby’s bounce chair will feel familiar to so many parents) with a distinctly Arctic landscape. The result is a visual story that positions Inuit culture as present-day and vibrant; awesome.

Admittedly, I wish the story had not been written in rhyme. While I can appreciate the fun that young children might experience when they are read round, rhyming verse, some of the rhymes are a bit awkward when read aloud (for example, “We’ll love you as much as the caribou love to run without fail”). I feel that this story would have soared higher without the need to satisfy its own rhyme scheme.