Will You Carry Me?

Will You Carry Me? by Heleen van Rossum and illustrated by Peter van Harmelen, was published in the Netherlands in 2004 with the first American edition published by Kane/Miller in 2005.


On first read I thought it was clever. How many times a day do we hear those words, Mommy will you carry me? The story is about, most simply, a little boy and his mother leaving the park to walk home, or rather, jump, swim, fly, and run home!

Peter van Harmelen's palette reminds me of fruity sorbet. He writes about his illustrations, I love drawing pictures - on paper with watercolor, pen and ink - with the main character in action, while many little funny animals and puppets react and interact amongst themselves, thus inhabiting a world of their own. It's a brand new place to be and children love to visit it.

Well, every night this book is picked out from the stack of library books and set on my lap to read. Why? Little Kids love repetition, repetition, repetition. Think about how many times they ask the same question in the car. Sometimes it's 10 times and I answer it 10 times! Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin and Eric Carle is a classic example.

Mommy looks at Thomas and smiles.
"Well, if you're too tired to walk or jump or swim,
maybe we should try...
(the suspense is killing me, ok turn the page)
...FLYING!"

All the cues are there for children to guess which activity Thomas and Mommy will do next. For example, the birds, butterflies and fairies are waiting and ready for mom to announce the next sport, flying. Mommy will try anything to keep from carrying Thomas all the way home. I especially like how they fly past the shops and library.... until they get to their flat that overlooks the city. And the mommy is ultra hip (and fit) with her headband, curly locks, orange baggy pants, green belly tank and backpack. I recommend this book, but be prepared- to read it over and over.