The writing is as beautiful as ever with the team of Patricia MacLachlan and her daughter Emily MacLachLan Charst

This book contains such stunning artistry that I read it three times and carefully examine all the minute detail in the breathtaking art. I understand why David Diaz was the recipient of so many stellar awards for illustrative abilities.

Page after stunning page, Patricia MacLachlan and her daughter Emily wove the story of a young pregnant mother who enjoys her pregnancy and loves the world around her. Her husband is kind, her grown cat brought the gift of three kittens, each a different color and beautifully rendered,

As the expectant mother tells the reader of her lovely life, the words convey gratitude and a sense of the miracle of pregnancy and delivery of a life.

The joy of motherhood is obvious as the young mother notes she still has all the lovely things that surround her, only now, they are
rendered more meaningful because they are shared with her baby.

I've read many beautifully illustrated books. This one is breathtaking and a notch above others.

I highly recommend you obtain a copy and keep it on your shelf where you can continue to soak in the beauty of the story and the accompanying are rendered iradescently with rich patterns of the joy and appreciate of nature. The book radiates joy and color and incredibly captures the wonderful feeling of carrying a life inside. The is a book of nature and the appreciation and beauty therein.

FIVE STARS ( )

This is too, like, "before you came we had it all, and now we have it all and a kid who we can raise like a human poodle in our beautiful cotton-candy life." Like, who's fitting the bill for all your leisure and expensive spaces? ( )

this book is a mother's view talking to her child about the things she had before he came along. Before her child she had a house, music, garden etc. now the one thing the mother has is her child and the child has the house the music and everything that was the mothers.

This book is about the love the mother thought she had for things before she realized what true love is when she had her first child. She realizes that everything she did and does is for her baby and she wouldn't change anything. The colors in the book are light and pretty, it gives the reader a calmness. The colors make me feel at peace and that I am being surrounded by nature. In one of the pictures there is a lot of lines going in a curve pattern, the picture is a cat and I think the lines represent the quick movement of the cat. The rest of the book is in a regular rhythm that makes sense to the readers. Pictures are important but for this book I don't think that the pictures needed as many details as the book had. Details are good but to many can keep the readers attention on the different elements than the actual theme and meaning of the book. I love the meaning of this book and I love the pictures in the book. As an adult I can take in all of the different elements and not get distracted by them, but young children might not be able to take it all in at once. The pictures help tell the story but if the book didn't have the pictures it wouldn't be that big of a deal because most kids can use their imaginations to come up with the setting and the characters in this book. The story has a very cute meaning and it is an adorable book, but the art is a little to much for the simple text that is used in this book. ( )

Before You Came by Patricia MacLachlan was about a mother that had a lot of things before her child came along. She had a house by the river, a dog named Rudy, music that the babies father would play, she had a garden of flowers and etc,. Until the baby came, she thought she had everything. After the baby was born she realized that everything she had was for the baby and the baby was her everything. The baby would be able to watch the river, ride in the canoe, watch the flowers bloom, have the dog to keep her safe. ( )