Love is an expansive thing. It's so vast that quantifying it is
impossible, and even verbalizing it poses a considerable challenge. But
countless writers have taken up the topic, trying to find new ways to
describe a feeling whose essence is so elusive. Number among these
authors Sam McBratney, who penned the achingly tender Guess How Much I Love You.
Illustrated by Anita Jeram with ink and watercolor, using mostly a
palette of greens and browns, this endearing tale finds Little Nutbrown
Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare, a father-son pair with tawny fur and long
ears, engaged in a gentle competition with one another. Each time the
younger hare phrases his love for his father in the most monumental
terms he can muster, the older reciprocates with an even more impressive
metaphor.
"I love you all the way down the lane as far as the river," cried Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you across the river and over the hills," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
Just this exchange constitutes a two-page spread; most follow a similar
pattern. The hares are adorable, gangly but still very cuddly, grinning
at one another with deep affection, Little Nutbrown often clinging to
some aspect or another of his pop's fur, exerting his individuality with
acrobatic displays of his talents or, as the book winds to a drowsy
close, allowing his father to scoop him up and cradle him gently in his
paws.
Though the characters are not humans, this soothing
story is an ideal way to reinforce the strength of the love that a
child's parents have for him or her. Longer
than a hare's ears ever grew, Big Nutbrown Hare loves Little Nutbrown
Hare, and theirs is a bond that will only become closer with time.
Bedtime stories don't get much more comforting than Guess How Much I Love You!
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