童玩繪本樂

     Child’s Best of the Year;Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
Parenting Magazine Reading Magic Awards;ALA Notable Children’s Books
              FamilyFun, Best Book of the Year, Honorable Mention
              American Booksellers Book of the Year Award, winner
                              
                                         



Summary 


     A father, Big Nutbrown Hare, and son, Little Nutbrown Hare, try to express one another’s affection. Little Nutbrown says that he loves his father as high as he can reach. Father replies that he loves his son as high as he can reach. Father’s love seems to be always bigger until the young rabbit tells his dad that he loves him right up to the moon. But as the father kisses his son goodnight, he whispers with his smile, ``I love you right up to the moon-and back.''

See the whole story at: 
http://english.bhes.tpc.edu.tw/story/guess_how_much_i_love_you/
guess_how_much_i_love_you.files/frame.htm

Illustration

    The illustrator, Anita Jeram uses pen and ink with watercolor to depict the thoughts of the hares throughout the pages. Without painting pictures with heavy colors, Anita Jeram gives the reader a comfortable feeling on each double-paged spread by light colors. Soft colors like brown and green have a visually quieting effect for that last soothing tale before sleep. The lines in the book are used to describe the action of the hares by Anita Jeram. From page 4 to 15, the illustrations of two hares stretching their whole bodies warmly capture the loving relationship between parent and child. 

   


    
 


    From page 16 to 19, the lines show a series of motion - hop and bouncing up and down - in order to provide readers a better imagination for this story. The artwork of father and son rabbits is portrayed with each affection from large pictures to the tiniest details. The artwork of father and son rabbits, such as simple gestures and facial expressions, is portrayed with affection from large pictures to the tiniest details. 

  


    The author, Sam McBratney, communicates the positive messages of love. The messages of love are simple but shows the difficulty of defining love. Love can not be measured by any expression but actually acted out. This book is very uniquely plotted. Unlike most books for bedtime, the two protagonists are male. In other words, instead of using female characters like other books, Sam McBratney chooses male characters to show the differences. Every reader can relate the delightful story to express love and receive expressions of love in return. 


Reflection

    Unlike other books we discussed earlier, the illustration of "Guess How Much I Love You" is consisted of good  artistic strategies but, unfortunately, poor ones as well. For my point of view, I prefer the text much more than the illustration. The soft-colored, subtle drawings do not appeal me to enjoy reading the story. Personally, vivid, colorful, exaggerated pictures inspire me with a better imagination and deliver their theme to my head directly and effectively. For the purpose of suing the younger readers' need, Anita Jeram should portray the pictures in this book with more elaborated illustration. However, the text written by Sam McBratney is more creative. Most books mention in one way or another how the characters are related and usually they are parent and child. Without its description about the relationship between the characters, readers can take it to be whoever they want, whoever fits. Because of that, it is a good fit for any relationship between friends, families, coworkers and couples. 

How much do I love you? “Right up to the moon … and back!” is my favorite quote in this story – simple but meaningful. The concepts about love exist in every plot, every gesture that Little Nutbrown does. It comes up with the ways to fresh up the definition of love. Love plays a major role in our daily life. Showing and sharing  love with another is an inevitable thing to do for someone you love. Ironically, it is more difficult to show your families love in this conservative society in Taiwan. Most of the time, people are more willing to say "I love you" to someone who is not one of their family members. This is a great book. The text focuses on the quality time a parent spends with their child and the extent of their love for each other. Therefore, I think it's a good book for anyone except younger kids. Adults will love this book!