I Love You to the Moon and Back All Year Long
Amelia Hepworth and Tim Warnes
Little Tiger

The thoroughly appealing bears – adult and cub – return in a fourth book by team Hepworth and Warnes. This time we follow the two through the year as they enjoy the changes each season offers, from a snowy winter, shoots heralding the arrival of spring, the warmth of summer, the scrunchy autumn leaves and the return of winter’s snow when the bears snuggle up together in the cave that gives them shelter.

Amelia’s gentle, lyrical text tells what the adult bear loves doing with the little bear be that watching the sun melt the snow, holding paws, cavorting in the river’s sparkling water,

meeting friends or holding the little one aloft beneath the swirling snowflakes of a winter sky at night. “I’m grateful for the love we share / that shines the whole year through.”

So too does the shared love between adult and child, which is captured beautifully in Tim’s playful seasonal scenes. These sometimes include other creatures such as a heron, frogs, furry woodland animals and other bears. Share at bedtime whatever the season.

I Love You
Mary Murphy
Happy Yak

How many ways are there to say, ‘I love you’? We follow a pair of pandas, one large, one small, as they spend time together discovering ever more ways they can show their love – from a bowl of juicy berries to building bricks, and pebbles in a pail

to a picnic on a blanket. The author uses lots of playful language, especially alliteration as the two characters make the most of one another’s company

Employing similes inspired by their activities and surroundings, the text is written in rhyme and illustrated with a minimal colour palette that makes the images stand out from the mustard yellow pages, this is an anthem to love. I wouldn’t advise picking this up and reading it sight unseen to a young child, as it’s important to get the rhythm right to do justice to the phraseology.

There is certainly plenty to talk about and enjoy with little ones who are likely to have their own ideas to add to those of the pandas.