What's Love All About, Minimoni? - Rocío Bonilla - ★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Rocío Bonilla
SERIES: Babymoni
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: April 29, 2025
RATING: 3.5 stars.


In a Nutshell: A cute picture book about a little girl trying to understand what love means. Decent story, adorable illustrations. Could have done better on a couple of things, but not a bad book.


Plot Preview:
Little Monica, affectionately called Minimoni, enjoys exploring the neighbourhood with her dog Max. They both understand each other perfectly. However, Minimoni doesn’t understand grown-ups that well, especially when they talk about love. What is love, and how can Minimoni comprehend it if she can’t see it or touch it or smell it or paint it or play with it? Is there any way of recognising love?
The story is written in Minimoni’s first-person perspective.


This story was originally published in Catalan/Spanish under the title “Què és això de l'amor, Minimoni?” in 2023. This English translation was published in 2025.

The storyline is quite simple yet deep. Through Minimoni’s ponderings, kids will understand the tricky concept that love is and how it is everywhere and still invisible. I like how Minimoni’s explorations begin by considering the common sayings about love and then evaluating their veracity with diligence. After a lot of confusion, she stumbles into some realisations about what love could be. The transition isn't smooth but the further execution is decent enough to let the abrupt change slide.

The ending feels a bit abrupt. I can't pinpoint the exact reason, but it just doesn’t feel like a valid culmination. More like a grandiose ending that doesn’t flow smoothly from the earlier content. 🤔

The writing is simple to comprehend for the target age group, with the text and the illustrations working in conjugation to explain the meaning of ‘love’. The lettering has a good mix of regular letters, CAPS and bold-face, helping young readers to focus on the highlighted words.

One inclusion I didn’t like was the line where Minimoni vehemently announces, “I don’t like broccoli – not at ALL!” Not a good thing to advocate to little children who might already be fussy about veggies. (And why does everyone hate broccoli so much? It is such a flavourful and versatile vegetable!)

The only part where I think the translation might have goofed up is at the start where Minimoni declares, “I *love* painting, eating spaghetti with tomato sauce, and going for a walk with my dog Max.’ On the immediate next page, she says she doesn’t understand what the word ‘love’ means. Perhaps the original sentence should have used some other verb.

The illustrations are awesome. The book works better because of the wonderful sketches. Minimoni’s expressions add much depth to the emotions in the text. Her little dog Max is a fun addition on many pages.

Overall, this is a cute book, and except for slip-ups mentioned, it works fairly well. The problems can be handled with some open conversations while reading this aloud.

Recommended. This ought to work for kids aged 3-7 years, but I would advise the reading to be combined with discussion.

My thanks to Albatros Media for providing the DRC of “Minimoni: What's Love All About, Minimoni?” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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