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Scots children's author and illustrator Debi Gliori - best known for her series of adorable picture-books featuring Mr. Bear, and for her series of spooky middle-grade fantasies about the Strega-Borgia family, which began with Pure Dead Magic - also happens to be the author of my all-time favorite reassurance tale, No Matter What. When Small, a little fox who feels "grim and grumpy," wrecks the living room, Large knows something is wrong, and a back-and-forth exchange begins, with Small posing a series of questions: Would Large still love her, if she were a bear? What about a squishy bug? The answer, of course, is always that Large will love her, "no matter what!"

Like so many books of its kind, from Guess How Much I Love You to Love You Forever , this is a story meant to reassure young children, to teach them that parental love is unconditional, and won't be withdrawn because they make a mistake, move away, or grow up. Unlike some of these other titles, however, Gliori's No Matter What is deliberately vague, when it comes to the gender of both parent and child - no pronouns, other than "you" are used in the text, and the illustrations are inconclusive - meaning that it can be interpreted in a variety of ways: as a mother-son, a mother-daughter, father-son, or father-daughter story, depending. The rhyming text itself is simple and sweet, making for a good read-aloud, and the adorable illustrations are colorful and appealing. All in all, it's a winner, and one I highly recommend to anyone looking for this type of story.