If i could keep you little, Emily... Made Special For
Emily
Made Special By
Mom and Dad
Written and illustrated by
Marianne Richmond
If i could keep you little, Emily Made Special For
Emily
Made Special By
Mom and Dad
Written and illustrated by
Marianne Richmond
For Our Perfectly Sweet Girl, We wish we could keep you little forever! Love, Mom and Dad
If I could keep you little,
Emily, I’d
hum you
lullab i e s .
But then I’d miss you
g i ng n i s
your concert’s
big
surprise.
I f I cou l d kee p you l i t tl e,
Emily,
I’d
hold your hand
everywhere.
But then I’d miss you
knowing,
“I can go…
you stay there.”
I f I cou l d ke e p you l i t tl e,
I’d
kiss
your cuts and
scrapes.
But then I’d miss you
learning from
your own
mistakes.
If I could keep you little,
Emily, I’d
strap
you in
real
tight.
But then I’d miss
swing ing
you from your
treetop
height.
If I could keep you little,
Emily,
I’d decide on
matching
clothes.
u But t o y s h e n I ’d m i s
and
choosin g
dots on top stripes below.
sh
ap .
I ’d
y t u
ead i nto r b r ou
es
c
If I could keep you little,
But then I’d miss you
“Hey! I like
finding,
ketchup with my grapes!”
If I could keep you little,
Emily,
I’d tell you stories every night.
But then I’d miss
you reading the words you’ve learned by sight.
I f I cou l d kee p you l i t tl e,
Emily,
I ’d pu sh you an
ywh
ere.
Bu t th en yo
u
I ’d
mi
fee s s lin g
your speed from
here
to
there!
, e l t t i l u o y p e e k d l If I cou o. w t r o d n e i r f a u o y I ’d p i c k f o r
But then I’d miss you finding friends you like
who like you, too!
If I could keep you little, we’d
finger-paint our art.
But then I’d miss you
creating
stories from
your
heart.
If I could keep you little,
Emily,
I’d push your
ducky float.
But then I’d miss you the
feeling
wind
behind summer’s boat.
If I could keep you little,
w e ’d
n a p in our fort midday.
But then I’d miss you sharing adventures from camp away.
with
If
fly y ou
Ic
ld u o
p e e k
t l e , I ’d t i l u yo
m
y
feet.
But then I’d miss you
seeing
sky and clouds from your seat.
If I could keep you little,
Emily, I’d keep you
close to me.
But then I’d miss you growing into
who you’re meant to be!
If i could keep you little…
Also available from author & illustrator Marianne Richmond:
is dedicated to my C, A, J, and W. I adored you little. And I am in awe of who you are becoming. —MR
Hooray for You!
The Gift of an Angel The Gift of a Memory The Gifts of Being Grand I Love You So… Dear Daughter Dear Son Dear Granddaughter
Text and illustrations copyright © 2010 Marianne Richmond www.mariannerichmond.com Cover and internal design © 2010 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. Put Me In the Story is a trademark of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. Published by Put Me In the Story, a publication of Sourcebooks, Inc. P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410 (630) 961-3900 Fax: (630) 961-2168
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.
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Source of Production: Lightning Source, Inc. 1246 Heil Quaker BLVD, La Vergne, TN 37086 Date of Production: MM YYYY Run Number: 99999 Printed and bound in the United States of America. LSI 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Find more heartfelt books and beautiful gifts for all occasions at www.mariannerichmond.com
If I could keep you little, I’d keep you
close to me.
growing into who you’re meant to be!
But then I’d miss you