I Love You Like Crazy Cakes

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Mother-love is profound, however a baby comes into a woman's life. For Rose Lewis, the journey to motherhood begins with a letter to Chinese officials, asking if she can adopt from the "big room with lots of other babies." The infants in that room in China are each missing a mother, but Lewis is missing something, too--a baby. She travels to China to meet her new little girl and falls head over heels in love. Taking her baby home to America, Lewis introduces her to all her family and friends, and they begin their life together.

A touching love story, I Love You Like Crazy Cakes will warm the cockles of any new parent's heart, especially those who have recently adopted a child. It's an ideal story for lap-time reading, and will inspire parents and kids to talk about their own first "meetings," whether at birth or in an adoption agency. Jane Dyer, illustrator of the bestselling Time for Bed by Mem Fox, Oh My Baby, Little One by Kathi Appelt, and many other marvelous picture books, uses a pastel palette of watercolors to capture the tender moments between the American mom and her rosy-cheeked Chinese baby. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter


From Publishers Weekly
Lewis's sweetly sentimental picture-book debut plays out like a love letter to her adopted Chinese daughter. As she recalls the events leading up to their first meeting ("I had been waiting for you my whole life")Athe letters to foreign officials, the baby picture she received, the flight to China with other excited soon-to-be parentsAand describes their joyous homecoming, she taps into a well of genuine emotion, not surprisingly, since her account is based on her own experience. Like Jamie Lee Curtis's Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born, the book offers abundant reassurances of love to adopted children, even if at times it seems more concerned with the feelings of the adult narrator than with those of the child ("How did someone make this perfect match a world away? Did the Chinese people have a special window to my soul?"). Dyer's (When Mama Comes Home Tonight) watercolors are almost meltingly tender. Whether depicting an airplane soaring against a star-spangled night sky, a round-cheeked child enthralled with a room full of toys or an embrace shared by the newly bonded mother and child, the clear, bright colors and clean lines of her portraits are immensely appealing. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-An engaging story about a single woman who goes to China to adopt a baby girl, written as though it were being told to the child. Lewis relays her own experiences, fast-forwarding through the paperwork process to focus on the interactions leading to emotional attachment. From first photographs and tears to home visitors and lullabies, one can't help but become fond of the new parent and child. Dyer's simple watercolor layouts with expressive characters make this a calming read, befitting the gentle affection in the text. The final page illustrates the Chinese character for "love."-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


New York Times Book Review, 11/19/00
"...richly illustrated...a lovely context...luminous images...Dyer's full-page illustrations are equally direct and joyful..."


From Booklist
Ages 4-8. The title sounds sweet, but this autobiographical story of a woman journalist's trip to China to adopt a baby girl seems less fictional sentiment than reportage. In a gentle manner just right for a picture-book audience, Lewis first explains China's current adoption and placement policies for baby girls. She then goes on to write about one special Chinese baby girl who had everything but a mother, and one American woman who had everything but a baby. "How did someone make this perfect match a world away?" the mother wonders as she looks at the child. The birth mother is not forgotten--at book's end, the adoptive mother cries for her, wanting her to know that her child is safe and happy. It's the joyful wonderment of a mother's seeing her new child, however, that leaves the greatest impact. With Dyer's soft watercolors underscoring the emotion, the book will be wonderful for lap sharing and a companion to Allen Say's Allison (1997). Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Kirkus, 8/1/00
"...Destined to become a classic..."


School Library Journal, 10/00
"...one can't help but become fond of the new parent and child..."


Publisher's Weekly, 7/31/00
"...sweetly sentimental...taps into a well of genuine emotion...watercolors are almost meltingly tender..."


Book Description
"Based on the author's own experience, this heartfelt story follows a woman on her journey to adopt a baby girl from China. From paperwork to plane flight, the narrative chronicles the baby's trip from a crib in a big room shared with many other babies to her own crib in her own room in her new room. Jane Dyer's delicate watercolors perfectly complement this charming text, a celebration of the love and joy a baby brings into the world."


Card catalog description
A woman describes how she went to China to adopt a special baby girl. Based on the author's own experiences.


About the Author
"Rose Lewis has a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. An accomplished still photographer and an award-winning producer for WCVB-TV in Boston, she lives with her daughter in Massachusetts. Jane Dyer is the illustrator of her own anthology, ANIMAL CRACKERS, TIME FOR BED, by Mem Fox; CHILD OF FAERIE, CHILD OF EARTH, by Jane Yolen; HERE IS MY HEART: LOVE POEMS, selected by William Jay Smith; and BLUE MOON SOUP: A FAMILY COOKBOOK, with recipes by Gary Goss. Jane Dyer lives in Massachusetts."


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I fell in love with this book before I even opened it. The cover is a precious illustration of a Chinese baby with a big hat. I wasn't disappointed when I read the book, either. This is a heartwarming story of a woman's journey to motherhood by adopting a baby from China. The watercolor illustrations are charming and the text is engaging. Anyone adopting a Chinese baby would really enjoy having this book to help their child understand the process of adoption in a gentle, loving way. 2000, Little, Brown and Company, $14.95. Ages 3 mo. to 8. Reviewer: S. Latson SOURCE: Parent Council, September 2001 (Vol. 9, No. 1) Read all 7 "From The Critics" >


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