When morning comes, I lie down beside my mother until she wakes up. She likes that.” So begins this gentle story of a day shared by a young girl and her mother. They wake up, eat breakfast, then go shopping. They spend time together in the park where the girl finally slides down the tall slide and into her mother’s arms. They then return home, read a book, eat dinner, and prepare for bed. The plot is simple, even mundane. But this is not a mundane book.

Jennings’ text is spare, but each word carries weight. The movement of the day conveys the special bond between the girl and her mother, a bond strengthened by simple things like the gift of a dandelion crown or the girl’s insistence that her mother wear her yellow dress because it “makes her look like sunshine.” The phrase “I like that” at the end frames the day and confirms the love in this mother-daughter relationship. Presenting the story through the girl’s eyes alone lends it power and grace.

Ohi’s beautiful illustrations tell the story between the lines with humour and poignancy. When the girl “helps” to make the beds, she is shown jumping joyfully on hers. Yet the mother is clearly raising her girl alone, and her weariness is clear in several of the pictures. At bedtime, when the girl says her mother “lies down beside me until I fall asleep,” the illustrations show a tired woman, eyes closed, probably already asleep, while her daughter gazes lovingly at her face.