The endearing Guess How Much I Love You storybook has sold over 35 million copies worldwide and entertained readers both young and old for over 25 years. The timeless classic portrays poignant, heart-felt qualities and values, making any of these gifts the perfect present for baby as well as creating an equally beautiful gift from baby to parent for occasions like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

Sam McBratney, is the author behind the well-loved family classic book Guess How Much I Love You. Sam spent his postwar childhood “in short trousers and Fair Isle jumpers”  and remembers studying for his 11-plus exam, before going to grammar school, and then on to study History and Political Science at Trinity College in Dublin. He became a teacher and taught at a further education college, a grammar school and a primary school. He took early retirement from the teaching profession to concentrate on his career as a writer.

The tale is of the Nutbrown Hares competing to measure their love for one another, and Big Nutbrown Hare’s heart-warming declaration to Little Nutbrown Hare, ‘I love you right up to the moon – and back’, has helped this story become a way of saying ‘I love you’ all over the world. Sam attributes the success of the storybook down to the following 4 ingredients:

1. The words are simple, direct, and true.
2. The illustrations perfectly catch throughout, the intimacy between a big one and a wee one.
3. The design such as the lettering of the cover, which has a quaint old-fashioned feel, and also the half-title page where Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare are looking out at the reader. “We’re off on a journey,” they seem to be saying. “Are you coming with us?”
4. Those who brought the book to the marketplace.

The timeless story has been beautifully illustrated by Anita Jeram in gentle watercolours and has captured the hearts of children and adults alike. She was born and brought up in Portsmouth and worked in a variety of jobs after leaving school before doing a foundation course in Visual Studies at Manchester Polytechnic, followed by a degree course in illustration. As an illustrator of children’s storybooks she is best known for Guess How Much I Love You which was shortlisted for the 1994 Kurt Maschler Award.

Popularity and demand over this remarkable picture book continues to spread and has now been translated into 53 languages. The beautiful and endearing Guess How Much I Love You Collection from Rainbow Designs, the Home of Classic Characters, features both Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare in an adorable range of baby soft nursery toys and gifts.

The collection, created in exquisitely soft fabrics and tonal colours, features gorgeous nursery essentials including the Little Nutbrown Hare Ring Rattle, Comfort Blanket, Jumbo Activity Playmat, Breakfast Set and the super cute Guess How Much I Love You Booties Set. The baby soft and super cuddly Large Nutbrown Hare, Lullaby Hares and Peek-a-Boo Big Nutbrown Hare are just some of the infant toys also available in the collection.

This plush range is available for retailers to purchase for their stores through online wholesaler Baby Brands Direct and right now registered accounts can enter a Valentine’s competition to win 8 lines from the range! The prize includes the Guess How Much I love you rattle, comfort blanket, large hare, musical lullaby hare, ring rattle, booties gift set, big nutborn hare, and  attachable jiggle toy. Log in now and answer 5 questions to be in with a chance to win!