"Guess How Much I Love You" tells the story of "Little Brown Nuthare" and "Big Brown Nuthare" as they prepare for bed. For the sake of brevity, I'll refer to them as LBN and BBN.
Character development is weak at best. the two main characters are never given names and their relationship is never explained. Father? Older brother? Abductor? They are appear to be on the run, sleeping in the open country. Or are possibly homeless. No mention is made of any female influence in their lives.
The essence of the story is that LBN wishes to convey to BBN how big his love. He struggles for the right words, using body language to express just how much he loves him. (For example, arms spread wide, arms lifted high.)
At no point does BBN recognize LBN's sentiments or try to help him expand his vocabulary - the unlovable lout is too busy trying to one-up the little hare. Anything LBN says, BBN has to top it. Right down to the point that LBN drifts off to sleep saying he loves him as far as from "here to the moon." Instead of simply being content to appreciate his charge's love, BBN has to take it one step further and whisper to the now sleeping LBN that he loves him "to the moon and back."
The illustrations are nice, but it should be noted that fuzzy animal nudity is present. (The animals are not clothed at any point in the book though any inappropriate animal naughty bits are carefully omitted.) There is no mention of drug use, alcohol consumption or language that would be inappropriate for any age. BBN does transport young LBN on his back without an age-appropriate safety seat.
At $7 for 20 pages, I also found it to be overpriced. I can't recommend this book, it's frustratingly stupid in the message it seems to be conveying.
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