Cassie Hoyt has given us a story about love, care, and relationship through her second book I Miss You Most. It is another story that is perfect for the times we are going through now, but also timeless because relationships and missing one another is something that will always be.
Through a child’s eye Hoyt has us - yes, the reader, you the parent - missing our own relationships. She takes us through realistic events, such as, drawing with chalk, the bedtime routine, swimming, and riding bikes.
Then, as with any child, the imagination begins to soar and we see that a child even misses playing pretend with who they miss.
“We are dino explorers out on our next trip.”
In the end, even the child knows, it does not matter what they did together - real or imagined - it’s the time spent together. It’s the time the adult in their life chose to spend on them. The child can think of all these wonderful things, but it’s just the time spent together.
“always remember I love you and I miss you most.”
This is one of the picture books when it isn’t so much the words that make it so special, but it’s the idea. The idea is of a child saying “I miss you most” because we used to do all these things together and I can imagine us doing even more (whether impossible or not). I miss you most because now there is distance between us. I love spending time with you even if it’s through a simple phone call (parents call your kids!). Kids miss their friends and family.
The story does not touch on the death of a loved one - that’s what I thought it would be about from the title - but it can definitely be read in that way and may even be helpful in sorting out some of those feelings for those in mourning. The book is very apt for what the past 10 months have held for us - there was a whole lot of distance decided to be placed upon us.
Hoyt uses rhyme to sing us throughout her heartfelt story. The rhyme scheme helps to leave you with comfort, not sadness. She uses easy-to-relate-to-situations along with those beyond our imaginings. She takes what can become an “oh, you’re fine, we will see them later” to something to dig into and get creative about how to give time to those who are missed. Hoyt gives us a few ideas: “visits, letters, video chats, or a phone call”.
Cassie Hoyt is an author I’ve met through the 12x12 Challenge and I’m so thankful she sent her story my way to review. Please take a moment to visit her website - cassiehoyt.com - to take a look at her first book, Hatch!, and to print out some of the activities that go with I Miss You Most. One of the activities is writing a letter to who you miss the most and anything that has to do with writing is an awesome activity for me!