Little Tiger Press ISBN: 9781788813433. £4.99
Parent bear (gender unspecified, so more flexible) begins the day expressing love for bear cub. As they walk through the birch forest past other creatures with their young: foxes, caribou and otter, Bear explains how s/he loves cub more than anything else, so that by the evening s/he reveals how her love grows more and more each day. On each of the double board page spreads this is written in rhyming couplets which are in a clear font and curving lines. The illustrations have a collage effect and the shading on the bears gives them both weight and volume. The pages are a pleasure to browse through because of the harmonious colours and varied viewpoints and small fingers will be able to turn them easily.
For me, though, the illustrations outweigh the text, because I found some rhythms a little cumbersome (“I love you more than anything – I cannot name just one reason”) and some concepts a little puzzling: do trees love to change with every season? Why are waterfalls personified so that they love to splash on the bears? This may be a little nit-picking, because this addition to the “I love you” genre will undoubtedly prove popular with Nursery and Reception children.
Sue Barrett