The Reading Chair
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. Illus. by Eric Carle. 2007. New York: Henry Holt. 28 pp. ISBN 9780805083361. Ages birth to 4.
Baby Bear is the fourth book in aseries that began 40 years ago, when Martin and Carle introduced the now-ubiquitous Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The second in the series, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? focuses on the sounds that animals make. The third book, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? presents a collection of endangered animals. Baby Bear portrays North American animals and a baby bear’s bond with its mother.
Children will love Carle’s large double-page animals and Martin’s text, replete with interesting vocabulary (striped skunk, screech owl, gliding, hooting). Martin, who died in 2004, when this book was being created, had a gift for appropriate and patterned language for young children. Small readers love repetition, and Baby Bear contains the word patterns they have come to expect from the series.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Lap Book Edition with CD), by Eric Carle. 2007. New York: Philomel/Penguin Young Readers. 24 pp. ISBN 9780399247453. Ages 1 to 5.
Most classrooms have been through numerous copies of this classic, but the lap book edition with CD offers something new. A lap book, which is an oversized board book, has the durability of a board book and the pleasing large illustrations typically found in hardcover editions. While we sometimes find lap books rather heavy, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an exception, thanks to the many trimmed- down pages that helped make this book so popular.
The CD, which features Carle himself reading the story, is a pleasure to listen to, and it has none of the distracting auditory flourishes that many audio books have. The CD contains no overpowering crunching sounds as the caterpillar chomps through the apple, no suffocating slurping through the five oranges, no noisy flapping as the new butterfly opens its wings. There is only the simplicity of the text complementing the vibrant illustrations, just as Carle designed it 40 years ago.
You’re a Grand Old Flag, by George M. Cohan. Illus. by Warren Kimble. 2007. New York: Walker Publishing. 28 pp. ISBN 9780802795755. Ages 2 and up.
It should only take one verse of this irresistible marching song for readers to take up the beat and fall in love with the U.S. flag all over again. The book may remind adults of the importance of teaching children to love their country so that they may one day serve it with passion.
Kimble is a prolific folk artist who paints on 200-year-old barn siding. His work feels old-fashioned and nostalgic. Pictures include patchwork hills, a proud eagle in a star-spangled vest, a barn as upright as the day it was built, and apple pie. Challenge children to find the flag on each page. The lyrics (“... land I love,” “Ev’ry heart beats true...,” “...never a boast or a brag”) are inspirational, and with only one line per spread, readers can savor them. The musical score at the back will help teachers brush up on the melody, in case this “auld acquaintance” has been briefly “forgot.”
Good Morning China, by Hu Yong Yi. 2007. New York: Roaring Brook Press. 32 pp. ISBN 9781596432406. Ages 3 to 7.
This snapshot of daily life in China takes place in the early morning in a community park, where the reader can see people doing every activity imaginable. Some activities will be familiar (cycling, exercising, drawing, playing chess), and others less so (dancing with fans, pushing hands, and doing tai chi). Some activities are energetic (badminton), others are restorative (stretching, resting by the lotus pond), and some require mental energy (playing cards). What’s captivating about this book—conveyed particularly well in the final giant foldout spread of all park-goers—is that Hu Yong Yi shows readers how the park not only feeds mind and body but also builds community.
Illustrations are rich and colorful. Serenity practically falls out of the images and onto the reader’s lap. While a culture where many start their day in the park might seem foreign to American children, who are used to being hurried, young readers will have no problem finding this title accessible and soothing.
My Little Grandmother Often Forgets, by Reeve Lindbergh. Illus. by Kathryn Brown. 2007. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. 24 pp. ISBN 9780763619893. Ages 3 to 8.
Don’t be fooled by the diminutive in Lindbergh’s title: this book bestows love and dignity upon a grandmother suffering from serious memory loss. Her grandson Tom narrates in well-written rhyme, describing examples of her lapses, how he comforts her, and the small ways in which he helps her stay safe: “My little grandmother / loses her way. / Once she went to buy eggs / and was gone the whole day. / She got to the store / but forgot the way back. / Now she takes me along, / and I help her keep track.” The text is tender; Tom is patient and unashamed. The references to the grandmother’s memory loss are subtle (“My little grandmother / says things, and then / she says them again... / and again...and again. / ‘Is it time for my bus?... / Is it time for my bus?’ / So I say, ‘I’m here now. / It’s just time for us.’”), but Lindbergh does not shy away from difficult realistic examples, such as the way in which Tom’s grandmother mistakes him for his father.
Brown’s colorful illustrations depict a family taking pleasure in everyday life while learning to care for Tom’s grandmother. An important addition to the libraries of all children who know an adult with memory loss, this excellent book is a model for responding with compassion and love... and occasionally with a little humor.
In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden, by Jack Prelutsky. Illus. by Petra Mathers. 2007. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins. 64 pp. ISBN 9780066238685. Ages 4 to 7.
Prelutsky is the country’s first Children’s Poet Laureate, named by the Poetry Foundation. In this poetry collection, he focuses on place and setting. Readers will traverse the country, learning place names from the Potomac to Spokane and from Bemidji to La Jolla. They’ll visit settings from mountains to mangrove trees.
Prelutsky’s characters are often laughable; there’s Silly Sally, who calls out to a trout. Some characters find themselves in awkward situations (“In Bemidji, Minnesota, / Ida sat upon the ice, / fishing on a frosty morning, / and she shivered once or twice. / Just to catch a fish for supper was her single, silent wish... / In Bemidji, Minnesota, / Ida caught a frozen fish”).
Levity is often conveyed not through the text but in the illustrations by Petra Mathers, who is especially good at painting expressive people and animals—even expressive snowmen. Prelutsky’s offbeat poetry and Mathers’ playful artwork make this a strong children’s poetry collection as well as a wonderful geography supplement.
Isabel Baker, MAT, MLS, is president of The Book Vine for Children, a national company dedicated to getting good books into the hands of preschool children and their teachers. Isabel has worked as a children’s librarian and is currently a presenter on early literacy and book selection.
Miriam Baker Schiffer, MFA, is a writer.
This article’s content addresses NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards 2, 3.
Beyond the Journal—Young Children on the Web, July 2008.
Copyright © 2008 by the National Association for the Education
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