In Soviet Ukraine, your mother is beautiful to you!
It's a really sweet message, but to get there they had to jump through so many hoops and pad the book with so many unrelated things like baking cakes and dances and accordion music. The story just meanders before it gets there. It's not a bad story; it just doesn't go anywhere.
Message
We don't love people because they're beautiful; people are beautiful because we love them.