Brown+Bear,+Brown+Bear,+What+Do+You+See?

Title: Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? By: Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle Publisher: Henry Holt and Company Publication Date: 1967 ISBN: 9780312509262

Summary: This is a simple, repetitive book. It starts with a brown bear, and says, “Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?” Then, from the perspective of the bear, it says “I see a re bird looking at me”. From there, the book asks the red bird what it sees. Every animal sees a new colored animal. This allows for an almost sing-song reading. Towards the end, a fish sees a teacher. The book asks what the teacher sees, and she sees children looking at her. Once the book asks the children what they see, it says they see all of the animals, up until the teacher.

Review: This is a lower level book,, which rhymes, and repeats many words. The illustrations are another highlight of the book. The illustrations are all made with tissue paper and glue, a famous style of Eric Carle. This is the type of book that you read over and over again in a early elementary school classroom. Once you read it a couple times, the children can read aloud with you. They look at the animal, and follow along with the “what do you see” and “I see a…looking at me”, according to what illustration they are looking at. This makes them like the book better when they can read along with the teacher. The book also involves them! It says “Children, children, what do you see?” This can be a time for them to pause the book and tell the teacher what they see, or a time for them to make a prediction as to what the children in the book see. This allows them to better connect with the book.

Literary Element: The writing style is the most important literary element in my opinion. Because they can follow along with the pattern as mentioned before, they will say and see a word at the same time. Even though they have memorized the words, they are still subconsciously associating that word with the pronunciation of that word. Since that is what learning to read is all about, this book is good for when children are learning to read. It also gives them confidence in reading, because they can read the book all the way through without help.

Author Review: Eric Carle is a famous author and illustrator. His most famous book is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. He was born in Syracuse in 1929, New York. Bill Martin Jr, another author of “Brown Bear…”, noticed an illustration that Eric did for an advertisement, and asked him to collaborate with him. That is when Eric Carle found his calling as an author and illustrator of children’s books. There is even a museum in Amherst Massachusetts called the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. He has also won many awards for his writing and illustrations

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