Love, Mama by Jeanette Bradley (review)

Little penguin Kipling cheerfully waves Mama off on her trip, but as the day goes on, he begins to feel her absence keenly ("Mama didn't come home for dinner. Or at bedtime") and the next day is even worse. Fortunately, a package from Mama comes for Kipling, containing an assurance of her love on a paper heart, and Kipling sends his own paper heart back, carrying his love and wishes, in a communication that sustains him until Mama returns. This is a gentle story for the tiny about the difficulty of dealing with even a short, benign absence of a loved one, and it's particularly sympathetic in its understanding of the way absence bites deeper as the day goes on. While the exchange of love tilts toward the saccharine, it will occasion a reassuring close cuddle with a lapsitting child and might inspire a project for communication with faraway family. The fanciful art has the softness of colored pencil, and rotund, fuzzy gray Kipling is an adorable protagonist. Amusing details (Mom hauls her wheeled suitcase onto an ice floe in order to get to the ship) enhance the story, and while the adult penguin holding down the homefront doesn't get any textual acknowledgment, it's clear Dad or somebody is taking good care of Kipling. The internet may have made the world smaller, but this book will help console kids who know that FaceTime just isn't the same. DS