Twenty-five years after publishing evergreen bestseller Guess How Much I Love You, the collaborators offer a similarly resonant sequel in which Little Nutbrown Hare goes exploring alone when Big Nutbrown Hare is preoccupied. "You're only another me!" he tells his reflection and his shadow before continuing his quest to find "someone real." Before long, he encounters a snow-white hare, Tipps, who asks Little Nutbrown the titular question. The two bond instantly and silently frolic together on a bucolic mountainside, until a game of hide-and-seek leaves both bunnies unfound and Little Nutbrown Hare stalwartly scurries home, unaware that someone special is following him. McBratney's strategically spare narrative leaves ample space for children to personalize the tale, whose affecting affirmation of independence and friendship plays out with corresponding authenticity in Jeram's airy ink and watercolor paintings. Ages 3--7. (Sept.)

PreS-Gr 1--From the team behind Guess How Much I Love You? comes a new story about Little Nutbrown Hare, ready to make new friends. He wants to play, but there's no one around except for Big Nutbrown Hare, who is much too busy. So off he goes to find a friend to play with. He meets his reflection in a puddle and his shadow on the ground, but no real friend can be found--until, up on cloudy mountain, he meets a little snow hare. They play until it's time for bed. McBratney writes with a genuine understanding of the language and emotions of a young child, and Jeram is just as deft, creating scenes of the lively and affectionate play between the two new friends. The natural world around them is filled with soft green and brown watercolor hues and the addition of delicate plant and animal details bring the landscape to life. VERDICT Recommended for purchase, this is a loving portrayal of a young child's growing independence and the absolute bliss of finding a new friend.--Laken Hottle, Providence Community Lib.

Little Nutbrown Hare ventures out into the wide world and comes back with a new companion in this sequel to Guess How Much I Love You (1994). Big Nutbrown Hare is too busy, so after asking permission, Little Nutbrown Hare scampers off over the rolling meadow to play by himself. After discovering that neither his shadow nor his reflection make satisfactory playmates ("You're only another me!"), Little Nutbrown comes to Cloudy Mountain…and meets "Someone real!" It's a white bunny who introduces herself as Tipps. But a wonderful round of digging and building and chasing about reaches an unexpected end with a game of hide-and-seek, because both hares hide! After waiting a long time to be found, Little Nutbrown Hare hops on home in disappointment, wondering whether he'll ever see Tipps again. As it turns out, it doesn't take long to find out, since she has followed him. "Now, where on earth did she come from?" wonders Big Nutbrown. "Her name is Tipps," Little Nutbrown proudly replies, "and she's my friend." Jeram's spacious, pale-toned, naturalistic outdoor scenes create a properly idyllic setting for this cozy development in a tender child-caregiver relationship--which hasn't lost a bit of its appealing intimacy in the more than 25 years since its first appearance. As in the first, Big Nutbrown Hare is ungendered, facilitating pleasingly flexible readings. Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.