This book is a child's fiction book that follows a rhythmic pattern throughout the story. It introduces colours and potentially new animals to children in a simple yet imaginative way. The story asks certain animals what they can see, to which they answer what they see looking at them. E.g. 'Brown Bear, brown Bear, what do you see?' ... 'I see a red bird looking at me'. This creative rhyming nature continues until the book finishes with a summary of all the animals and things that the 'children' have seen. This book has bold, attention grabbing illustrations that would help keep the attention of the children especially children with EAL. The easy to read and repetitive nature of this book make it an extremely useful resource for children with EAL. The repetitive and rhythmic language used is beneficial to children mainly with EAL as it uses the same words over and over, meaning that these children have a chance to interact and join in as the story becomes more familiar. This story's dual language aspect makes it available in a variety of languages which will help EAL children understand this book more clearly.This book can also be beneficial for children with SEN. The book's easy to grasp nature helps the children focus and anticipate what animal is going to appear next in the book. I feel that this book would be excellent for children with SEN as it is easily understandable yet endearing and interesting.I feel this book could also be used in the mainstream primary setting where the children could be asked to come up with their own animals and then share their idea with the rest of the class following the structure of the book. Overall I feel this book is aimed at Key Stage 1 children, teaching them basic colours and language through rhythmic repetition. This book will interest and excite Key stage 1. I believe that making children's first impression of reading exciting is a vital aspect of getting children to WANT to read throughout their childhood. For me this book does exactly this through its literacy and its fantastic illustrations. This book's illustrations could also give some artistic ideas to children.I strongly recommend this book would be best used as an interact book reading lesson, where the children would join in with the rhyme while using the illustrations to help guess what animal is going to be seen next in the sequence. This is beneficial to all children as it tests their memory through recall and gets them to think of the sequence that they have just listened to. It also incorporates all children whether mainstream, SEN or EAL children.
I love love love kid books! Now that I have a son and daughter of my own, it is awesome to be able to re-read stories like this with them. Brings back great memories. I bought this book for my son about two weeks ago at our local Walmart. Most of the books he has at home were given to me by my sister, that had belonged to my nephew (who is now 14.) And most of the books are longer books that don't keep a two year old s attention. After realizing he had very few short picture books to get started with, we have been picking one new one up every month. Last month we got him The Very Hunger Caterpillar. He is slowly starting to love reading and that makes me one very happy momma. This book in particular I really love because it's not only fun for him to listen to, but it is also helping him identify colors and animals. He can properly tell me all of the animals in the book. Before the book he didn't know what a sheep was, and he didn't know the word 'teacher' either, now he knows both! At the end when the children are saying what they see, my son and I go through and I point to each animal and he tells me what it is. Next we are going to work on adding the colors. Instead of "birdy" I am going to try to get him to say "RED birdy" Helping my little guy learn is fun! :-)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a poetry book written by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. This book is intended for the nursery aged audience because it is just an introduction of poetry. It is a great book that includes poetic techniques such as repetition and rhyme. The repetition in the book is the repeating of the phrases, "what do you see" and "looking at me." The children will be able to catch on to what the next line of the story is going to be and could eventually begin reading the story to you. The story also rhymes as you read through it. The children will think that it is fun to read this story and will really enjoy the illustrations of the book. Even though the book does not have a plot but can still be interesting for children of this age group. The illustrations are colorful of different animals. The children will have fun reading and seeing the different kinds of animlas. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a great book to introduce poetry to young readers.
—Krista Lineweaver
Grade level/interest level: Primary (1st-3rd grade)Reading Level: Lexile level, 440 LADGenre: Modern Fantasy/Science FictionMain characters: the animals and teacher in the storySetting:where the animals are and a classroomPOV: story is told by a narratorThis book repeatedly asks children who are being read the story the simple question of "What do you see?" In doing so the children are more closely examining each page, learning colors, animals, and how words rhyme. Each rhyme leads effortlessly to the next one and on each page children know what to expect in terms of the words that will be said. The use of a simple repetitive language actually intrigues children who love to rhyme and to repeat the new words they learn. The words “What”, “do”, “you”, and “see” are all sight words that can be added to a "Sight Word Wall" and this book helps the students learn these words in a manner that is both fun and educational. The illustrations in this story are also captivating. They allow students to learn various colors and expand upon types of media that can be used when creating art work. These illustrations almost look they were made with tissue paper.I would incorporate this book into my classroom and other Eric Carle books during read- aloud’s and as the children became familiar with the book I would give them the opportunity to read this book independently or with a partner. I would use this book with a whole group to create discussions about the animals, colors, and sight words used in this book.
—Kristen Scelonge
Subtexts: perspective, surveillance, paranoia!I had to read this aloud maybe a hundred nights in a row before I noticed what the text was plainly saying: everyone thinks they are being watched! And ironically, they are the ones doing the watching! From the titular brown bear who is certain that the red bird is watching him/her, each animal is watching an animal and projecting that the very animal they watch, is watching them!In reality, none of the projected watching is happening. Each animal is watching a different animal, save for the children, who imagine that ALL the animals watch them, when in fact it is the children who gaze out at every animal.Here are the lessons of the book:-the people you think are watching you aren't-actually, it is YOU who is doing the watching!-animal colors in real life may vary from depictions [though Franz Marc painted some lovely blue horses and I do hope their inclusion here is a nod to him]
—Igolder
