No Matter What, Debi Gliori

Hello everyone! Is it possible to love one of the children more or less, or to stop loving your child? Of course not. But probably every child at least once said to his mother: "you love my brother / sister more than me!"or "you don't love me!". It is difficult to explain to a little person, that parental love knows no boundaries. After all, a child measures this love not only by the number of hugs or kisses, but also by the number of gifts, punishments for leprosy and time spent together. And of course all children get for pampering and leprosy, and older children more often than younger. Often we devote more time to younger children, because they are not yet independent. And of course there is a well-known idea, that the child most needs our love when he least deserves it.

Recently I bought a wonderful book "No Matter What" by Debi Gliori. I am sure, that this book is translated into many languages and sold in all countries. I wanted to share this book with you. I certainly bought it in Russian, but I wanted to find the original text to tell this book in English. And what was my surprise, when I discovered, that there are two versions of the text! For English and American young readers the texts are very different. For me it is no secret, that English books for England and the USA are often printed with minor changes (taking into account the peculiarities of the language). Minor differences, for example, are in the books of Julia Donaldson (American snail asked "ride all over the world", British - "lift"). But the lyrics are so different! Those same lines about death in the American version replaced by the question " And if you are far away, love disappears or remains?"By the way, I like this version much more than the original, and I tell it.

Lay out two versions for comparison:

Small was feeling grim and dark. Playing toss and fling and squash, Yell and scream and bang and crash. Break and snap and bash and batter… “Good grief,” said Large. “What is the matter?” Small said “I’m a grim and grumpy little Small and nobody loves me at all.” “Oh Small,” said Large. “Grumpy or not, I’ll always love you no matter what.” Small said, “If I was a grizzly bear, would you still love me, would you care?” “Of course,” said Large, “bear or not, I’ll always love you no matter what.” Small said, “But if I turned into a bug, would you still love me and give me a hug?” “Of course,” said Large, “bug or not, I’ll always love you no matter what.” “No matter what?” said Small, and smiled, “What if I was a crocodile?” Large said “I’d hug you close and tight and tuck you up in bed each night”. “Does love wear out” said Small, “does it break or bend? Can you fix it, stick it, does it mend?” “Oh help,” said Large “I’m not that clever I just know I’ll love you for ever”. Small said “but what about when we're dead and gone, would you love me then, does love go on?” Large held Small snug as they looked out at the night, at the moon in the dark, and the stars shining bright. “Small look at the stars – how they shine and glow, but some of those stars died a long time ago.” Still they shine in the evening skies. Love, like starlight, never dies”.

US version: Small was feeling grim and grumpy. “Good grief,” said Large. “What is the matter?” “I’m grim and grumpy,” said little Small, “and I don’t think you love me at all”. “Oh, Small,” said Large, “grumpy or not, I’ll always love you no matter what.” “If I were a grumpy grizzly bear, would you still love me? Would you still care?” “Of course,” said Large. “Bear or not, I’ll always love you no matter what.” “But if I turned into a squishy bug, would you still love me and give me a hug?” “Of course,” said Large, “Bug or not, I’d always love you no matter what.” “No matter what?” said Small with a smile. “What if I were a crocodile?” “I’d still hold you close and snug and tight, and tuck you up in bed each night.” “But does love wear out? Does it break or bend? Can you fix it or patch it, does it mend?” “With time together, a smile, and a kiss – love can be mended with things like this.” “But what about when you’re far away? Does your love go too, or does it stay?” “Look up at the stars. They’re far, far away. But their light reaches us at the end of each day.” “It’s like that with love – we may be close, we may be far, But our love still surrounds us… wherever we are.”

Russian translation of the book is very close to the American version. I think, this book is a great helper for parents to explain to children, that parents can not love the child less or more or fall out of love with him. This stunning piece, by reading which, you know, what parents really never stop loving you, whatever you did and whatever you are. This is a story of parental love, in very beautiful illustrations made by the author — writer and artist Debi Gliori. Personally, I was very upset by this work. I hope my post will be useful!