Life brings a constant stream of change to us even in the smoothest of times. When a parent is living with cancer, an unpredictable new tributary of change enters the stream. The experience can be unsettling, confusing, lonely, and sad for children. The truth that "love stays strong" — this book's title and its refrain — then becomes a crucial anchor for the heart.
Written for four-to-eight-year-old readers, the book starts with a genuinely cosmic (and poetic!) perspective. A mother with cancer asks her daughter, "Did you know that our universe is constantly expanding? When we look up at the stars, they're mixing and moving, flaring and fading." She goes on to describe changes of many sorts, including how she, too, is changing: "But through it all my love for you stays strong."
Nicole Wong's illustrations reflect the surprise of these changes. The daughter peeks out from behind her father as he cuts her mother's hair ("Some days I may look different.") and from behind an armchair in which her mother is curled up, napping ("Other days I may feel different.") — it's hard to take in what's happening. Reassuringly, the story ties these changes in the mother's health to seasonal changes and other nature imagery. For instance, the mother explains that dolphins come together in pods for life just like "you are surrounded by a community who cares about you."
In one especially poignant yet powerfully courageous picture, the mother, looking pale and with little hair, shares tea and toast with her daughter, and points out the main theme's corollary: "Your love keeps me strong." The book also lays out genuine counsel: that talking with someone when you're afraid or scared can help and that questions matter: "You can ask me anything."
Author Paula Schneider's net proceeds from this book will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. From 2017-2025 she served as president & CEO; currently she is honorary vice chair. As a breast cancer survivor, mother of two daughters and having lost her own mother to metastatic breast cancer, Paula’s work is personal, imbued with real-world perspective and tenderness as well as expertise.
