Plot
A mother cradles her newborn son and sings a lullaby to him: "I'll love you forever/ I'll like you for always/ As long as I'm living/ My baby you'll be." Despite her occasional aggravation with her son's behaviour as he grows, the mother consistently visits his bedroom each night to sing this lullaby. After the son becomes an adult and moves across town, his mother occasionally visits him to sing the lullaby while he sleeps.
As the mother grows older, her health begins to decline, and she asks her son one day to visit her. When the son arrives, the mother attempts to sing her lullaby, but her illness prevents her from completing it. The son cradles his mother in his arms and sings the lullaby back to her, altering the final line to "My Mommy you'll be". Upon returning home, the son enters the nursery and sings his mother's lullaby to his newborn daughter, implying that the cycle will continue.
Reception
Love You Forever was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Bestselling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). [4] In 2001, Maria Shriver wrote in O, The Oprah Magazine : "I have yet to read this book through without crying. It says so much about the circle of life, youth, parenting, and our responsibility for our parents as we grow older. The message is so simple yet so profound. Love You Forever is a great gift for anyone with a child, or even for your own parents." [5] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children." [6]
Some readers dislike the portion of the story where the mother sneaks into her grown son's home. One Publishers Weekly reviewer states that Love You Forever 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..." [7] A commentator wrote "it's either a touching account of a mother's unending love or the ultimate helicopter parenting gone bad." [8]
In 2020, playwright Topher Payne released an alternate ending for the book, which he titled Love You Forever & I'll Call Before I Come Over, with art in the style of the original. In Payne's version, the son installs security bars on his windows; he subsequently explains to his mother that although he still loves her, he also needs personal space. Payne subsequently stated: "taken as metaphor, Love You Forever is beautiful, a mother's devotion. Taken literally, the mother is a little nuts." [9]
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