How Much I Love You!: a project 100% made with love

The Children’s book: …I love You Thiiiiiiis Much!

Like most parents, I had a bedtime ritual with my children. I used to ask them: “Do you know how much I love you?” And the answer was to hold them very tight in my arms – my children responded immediately with a big huge hug.

When a friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer, we had the idea to develop a book for children: Lia and the peas – or What is cancer”. The book can be adapted to specific family and medical situations. We also had the idea to have the book illustrated in three different designs made by three artists.

Shortly before her death, my friend told me about a game she played with her children at bedtime. She used to ask them where to put her “How much I love you” them to keep it safe. Together, we started writing a story based on this game.

After her death, I had to put this story aside for a while. In 2017, I decided to write a new story based on the theme “How much I love you”. In my search of children love books I found several stories, such as the book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam MacBratney. All these life events and elements I discovered contributed to the writing of “… I Love You Thiiiiiiis Much!”.

Last but not least, this book (as well as the Lia and the Peas book) uses a high-tech IT system that allows the management of a multitude of personalized versions on one same web platform.

… I Love You Thiiiiiiis Much! is a worldwide project. Other artists are welcome to participate in this project by illustrating it for example.

Furthermore, the story is being translated into several languages. Currently, there are 10 languages available and many more are intended to come.

The actual world needs LOVE so our main goal is to make this book available to children all over the world, transcending language and cultural boundaries.

We want to make children happy so 2% of all the sales income of “… I Love You Thiiiiiiis Much!” will go to non-profit organizations working for orphaned children.

The DIY-Love Book Kit

Based on …I love You This Much we were a small step further from creating a love book for everyone – and not just for children. As I watched my mother folding small books from old watercolor and gravure waste, I got the idea of creating a mini-love book.

Together with Dejan Dinčić, we brainstorm for a longtime on a DIY book, finally our collaborative thinking let to a DIY mini-love book kit.

Enjoy this project!

Urs Richle in the name of the How Much I Love You Team