Guess How Much I Love You: The Song of Spring

Inspired by the bestselling 1994 children's picture book, Guess How Much I Love You, written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram, The Song of Spring serves up a handful of episodes that are typically sweet and full of life lessons, anchored in McBratney's original concept of a young forest critter named Little Nutbrown Hare having a running dialogue with his adoring father, Big Nutbrown Hare. Along with his best friend, Little Field Mouse, the carefree Little Nutbrown Hare learns much about nature and a few things about responsibility. In “Little Green Worm,” the duo become fascinated by a caterpillar, but later wonder where it has gone. Big Nutbrown Hare explains that the “worm” (as the boys mistakenly call it) wrapped itself in a chrysalis and has emerged as a beautiful butterfly. “Too Big, Too Small” is a cute piece in which Little Nutbrown Hare realizes that everything in his physical environment seems to appear smaller: rocks, logs, and the distance between stones to hop on in the stream. His dad shows him how his own growth is both inevitable and good. “The Lucky Egg” is a particularly good tale in which the little bunny and mouse find a lone egg on the ground and help a mama bluebird adopt and care for it. When the egg hatches to reveal an owl chick, no one knows what it is. And in “Busy as a Bee,” son offers to help father hunt for berries and carrots, but then falls down on the job, getting distracted by temptations to play. A fine compilation, this is highly recommended. Aud: K, P. (T. Keogh)