Do You Love Me? by Joost Elffers

• 12/19/2013
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Do You Love Me?
Joost Elffers
The Bowen Press (2008)
ISBN 9780061667992
Reviewed by Cayden (age 4) and Max (age 2) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (10/08)

“Do You Love Me?” is a book that shows creatures asking questions to one another such as, “do you love me?” and “do you need me?” followed by responses like “always, dear” and “ever near.”

Cayden:  “What are those things?  Are they animals?”

Cayden:  “They touch noses all of the time.”

Cayden:  “Are those mommies and kids or daddies and kids?  I don’t know what they are.”

Max:  “What are they?”

Cayden:  What does snuzzle closer mean?  Does that mean cuddle?”

Parent’s comments:
The book looked cute from the cover but kind of confused my children once we started reading it.  I found out from the back cover flap after reading the book that the creatures in the book are Snuzzles and they “express their love by putting nose to nose.”

Most of the wording is pretty basic but there are some questionable choices in my mind, for instance, “can we nestle? tender and slow.”  My children did not take to this book very well as there wasn’t much going on for them to look at and at first they didn’t understand what the creatures were or were doing.  Once I figured it out from the back dust jacket flap they had no interest in reading through it again.  Maybe “Do You Love Me?” would be better for a younger child.