Out and About in 100 Words: A Guess How Much I Love You Book

by Anita Jeram, Anita Jeram (Illustrator)

Overview

Guess how many words you can learn together with Big and Little Nutbrown Hare! The beloved pair turn to naming things in the natural world for their youngest fans.

As Little Nutbrown Hare hops across some stones in a river, he sees so many interesting things—fish and swans, an otter and beaver, a willow tree and reeds, the water itself. Meanwhile, at a farm full of animals, Little Nutbrown Hare enthuses about all the new babies—a hen with her chicks, a cow with her calf, a horse with a foal, a proud pig and her piglets. Whether it’s a pond full of ducklings and frogs and lily pads, or a meadow bursting with bees and butterflies and buttercups, the simple presentation of named objects and sweetly inviting illustrations offer an ideal setting for little ones to discover what nature holds—and to learn the words for what they see. A spinoff to the family classic Guess How Much I Love You, this is a read-aloud that will beg for many return visits.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536250770
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	01/06/2026
Series:	Guess How Much I Love You
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Sam McBratney (1943–2020) is the author of the internationally best-selling classic Guess How Much I Love You and its sequel, Will You Be My Friend?, as well as You're All My Favorites, all illustrated by Anita Jeram. He is also the author of Just You and Me and There, There, both illustrated by Ivan Bates, and Mindi and the Goose No One Else Could See, illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir, among many other books for children.

Anita Jeram is the illustrator of Guess How Much I Love You, the Guess How Much I Love You storybooks, and You’re All My Favorites, all by Sam McBratney. She has also illustrated several books by Amy Hest, including Little Chick and a series about Sam and Mrs. Bear, as well as Skip to the Loo, My Darling! by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Anita Jeram lives in Northern Ireland.

For Anita Jeram, illustrating the phenomenal bestseller Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney was a labor of love. Even today, she says, “Every time I read this book, I want to cry. The story reminds me so much of my own son, who often plays this kind of game with me when it’s time for bed.” An immediate problem arose during her early brainstorming for the illustrations, however: she had never actually seen a hare. Trying to be helpful, her paleontologist husband brought a stuffed hare home from the museum. In the end though, the winsome Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare grew out of her imagination.

Anita Jeram’s son inspired her art again when he asked her which of the children in their family was the best—himself, his brother, or his sister. Anita Jeram explained they were all equal in her eyes, and he came back with another question: “Okay, then, who’s the cleanest?” She laughs as she recalls, “There’s always one in every family.” To answer this timeless question—who is the favorite child?—Anita Jeram reunited with author Sam McBratney to create You’re All My Favorites, a comforting tale in which Mommy and Daddy Bear reassure their three worried cubs that there’s plenty of love to go around.

Even before starting her illustrations for You’re All My Favorites, however, Anita Jeram had plenty of practice painting bears—in a noticeably different style. Kiss Good Night, a tender bedtime tale about a mother bear and a little bear, was a collaboration between Anita Jeram and acclaimed author Amy Hest. “I had recently finished illustrating part of In Every Tiny Grain of Sand (edited by Reeve Lindbergh), using acrylic paint for the first time, and I thought acrylics would give the pictures for Kiss Good Night some depth and warmth that I couldn’t seem to get with watercolors,” she says. “I visited the London zoo to look at the bears for inspiration, but it was a cold day and they all huddled asleep. So in the end I think Mrs. Bear is based on myself. She’s rather tall and big built, but I hope she looks like a nice comforting mom to have.” The illustrator carries the same soothing style into two sequels, Don’t You Feel Well, Sam? and You Can Do It, Sam.

The illustrator of many other popular and critically acclaimed books for children, including All Pigs Are Beautiful by Dick King-Smith, Anita Jeram has also written several children’s books of her own. As author-illustrator of Bunny, My Honey, a sweet story of a bunny lost and then found, she was able to exercise her rabbit-drawing skills. A rabbit is also the hero of I Love My Little Storybook, her magical tribute to the wonderful world of books.

Anita Jeram, a native of Portsmouth, England, studied art at Manchester Polytechnic and published her first book for children while she was still a student. Today, she lives in Northern Ireland with her family and a menagerie of animals. In the future she hopes to establish a wildlife sanctuary.