Love You When... (edition 2012)

I simply adore this book for many reasons.

I had requested this book from the Early Reviewers on Library Thing because I was feeling "in the mood" to review a kid's book....but this one proved to be so much more for that.

The author/photographer/Supreme Imaginative Doodler has collected a plethora of various-shaped rocks, painted on them, hidden little heart-shaped rocks in each scene, photographed them...and then paired them up with great little sayings like, "I love you when...we noticed fluffy white clouds ni the deep blue sky, and we search for familiar shapes as they float by."

This isn't just a "kids' book." This is an "everyone's book."

I could see myself buying multiple copies of this and gifting it to a significant other, a young cousin, an influential music teacher, a parent or grandparent, a lifelong friend, an in-law....It really is incredibly heartwarming and creative....and a total surprise. ( )

“Love you when…” is a warm and uplifting book with brightly painted rocks combined with enriching text that is sweet without being saccharine.
When I first skimmed through this book I felt that the painted stones were too bright and jarring against the natural stones used as background but as I continued to read and began to pay more attention to the text I warmed to the style and found it really enhanced the whole experience. The stones just made me happy to look at them.
I love the font used, I love the colors used for the text pages, I loved the warm and enriching text itself and I found myself going back and rereading and rereading and smiling the whole time.
I could see giving this to someone you love or even to yourself to read when you need a pick me up.
This book would work as a gift from a parent to child or child to parent or to a loved one of any age really. ( )

This is the type of book you buy to share with someone but that warms your heart just by reminding you of how you feel. "I love you when..." writes author Linda Kranz, who then proceeds to describe a plethora of quiet outdoorsy moments that are easy to love. The only problem is that those moments are precious in themselves, and do not focus on our relationships with our loved ones. Interestingly, the inside front and back covers are filled with the type of sentiment I was expecting from the main part of the book ("... your vibrant energy rubs off on me...", etc.)

The best part of this book are the vivid photos of painstakingly composed collections of rocks and whimsical rock art. The images are so captivating that my daughter all but ignored the text as she dreamed of future art projects inspired by the book. That alone made the book worth having , but I can't help but wish that either the text had focused on the warm-and-cozy aspects of a relationship (as the title implies) or the book had been packaged as a nature appreciation story. ( )

Love You When, is a heartfelt book that uses decorated river rocks for illustrations. The pictures are lovely and the sentiment the book professes is very nice, but I hesitate to include this book in my children's book library as it is categorized as. It seems much more like a book you would discover at a Hallmark Card & Gift store to give to someone on a birthday, anniversary, and other sentimental occasions. The book has a theme of loving someone through different seasons and times, but there isn't really a story there to grab a child's attention and keep them interested through the end of the story. ( )