Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle
Exuberantly coloured artwork and favourite animals make this rhythmic story the perfect introduction to looking and learning about colours.
This book about animals and colours was in our ‘Bookstart’ pack that we received earlier this year and it’s my almost 3 year old’s book of the moment. It’s read at least half a dozen times a day and is the book of choice for bed time. I’ve found Joshua on the stairs, ‘reading’ it to himself having memorised much of the text which is very simple rhyming and captures and keeps his attention: ‘Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me’. We can talk about the picture and learn about the colour of the animals but often though, Joshi just can’t wait to get on to the next page and so we keep the flow of the rhyming text going.
My 14 month old loves to listen along to my voice, smiling and laughing as the tone changes and then repeats. He also enjoys pointing and laughing at the pictures. I love Eric Carle’s illustrations, which are large, very fun and brightly coloured.
Verdict: This is a really fun book. It’s great for learning about different animals and colours, but we’ve also enjoyed the rhyming aspect and the fact that Joshua has been learning to ‘read all myself’ due to the simply written text.
Reviewed by Lesley