[close] 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 [close]