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When the son first arrives, his mother tries to sing her lullaby to him, but she is too weak to finish. The son then cradles his mother in his arms and sings the lullaby for her in reciprocation for the unconditional love that she had shown him throughout his life, changing the last line to "my mommy
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and illustrated by Sheila McGraw. The story centers on a mother who sings a lullaby to her son at each stage of his life. During his childhood, she becomes frustrated with his rebellious nature, yet always sings to him after he falls asleep. The mother and son grow older, with the former becoming
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performs a dramatic reading of the book at Emma's first birthday (as he had forgotten to get a present and saw the book nearby), moving everyone to tears. Joey later realizes that he has forgotten to prepare for an upcoming audition and decides to recite the book as a dramatic monologue.
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After returning home, the son pauses at the top of the stairs for a long moment (perhaps grieving the death of his mother). He then goes into the nursery, cradles his newborn daughter, and sings his mother's signature lullaby for her, implying that the cycle will continue.
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is a divisive children's book. "Either it moves you to tears and you love it, or it makes your skin crawl and you detest it..." A commentator wrote "it's either a touching account of a mother's unending love or the ultimate helicopter parenting gone bad."
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Despite her occasional aggravation caused by her son's behavior at 2 years old, 9 years old, and as a teenager, the mother nonetheless visits his bedroom nightly to cradle him in her arms, and sing a brief lullaby promising to always love him:
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The story details the cycle of life by chronicling the experiences of a young son and his mother throughout the course of the boy's life and describing the frustrating behavior exhibited by him throughout his youth.
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wrote an alternative ending to the story, in which the mother is forced to recognize the son's need for personal space, and they instead agree to share their time doing things together.
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babies. It began as a song that Munsch would sing in his head for his two babies as singing it out loud was too emotional. During a performance at a theatre in the
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After her son enters adulthood and moves across town, his elderly mother occasionally sneaks into his bedroom at night to croon her customary lullaby.
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All-Time
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sick due to old age, and one day unable to sing the lullaby. The son sings the song for her, then sings it to his newborn daughter.
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However, she gradually grows old and frail, and her grown son visits his feeble, sickly mother for the final time.
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is a great gift for anyone with a child, or even for your own parents." Based on a 2007 online poll, the
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Some readers dislike the portion of the story where the mother sneaks into her grown son's home. One
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listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for
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The book was read by
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In the season eleven episode “Decision Time” of the tv series
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episode "All-Call," Eden is briefly shown reading the book.
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Munsch and his wife have since adopted three children.
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The book was written after Munsch and his wife had two
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Morris, Alison, Love You
Forever, Hate You Forever,
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564:Audio file of the book, read by the author
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393:"About Love You Forever"
159:I'll like you for always
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130:children's picture book
589:Canadian picture books
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319:, the third movie in
303:The One with the Cake
282:reviewer states that
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164:As long as I'm living
154:I'll love you forever
16:Book by Robert Munsch
233:University of Guelph
322:The Christmas Shoes
305:". In the episode,
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316:The Christmas Hope
207:. You can help by
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540:Publishers Weekly
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259:wrote in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
