I Love You Mouse (1976) may be an introduction to how love manifests in life. John Graham draws upon two things familiar to children, animals and homes. Each two-page spread begins with "I love you, _____". The blank is filled in with a different animal each time. A young child completes the scenario a home they would find for each animal. A few don't exactly make sense, such as ". . . if I were a dog I'd build you a kennel." No, if you were a dog, you couldn't built a kennel, but it's the sentiment that counts. On the final pages, the first person references not the child, but their parent, which is out of sync with all the prior pages. Maybe I'm being picky, yet, for me, these incongruences interrupted the smooth flow of comprehension. Tomie dePaola's drawings add to the feeling of youthful earnestness.
