Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Written by Bill Martin Jr. Illustrated by Eric Carle

This clever book entices the reader right from the first page. “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?” the reader asks the bear at the start. The bear then describes what it sees to the reader. As the story continues, the same question is asked of all the animals and people who star in the book. 

Because it focuses on combining rhythmic and repeating phrases throughout, young children have plenty of opportunities to join in. They might not be able to resist the urge to growl like a bear or woof like a dog! 

The repetitious style of this book also makes it easier for children to remember what they have seen and heard – it won’t be long before you all know it off by heart. 

The vibrant, tissue paper-type collage illustrations beautifully reflect the story's characters, while exploring colour in sometimes surprising ways. And the various shapes and shades of the animals’ and people’s eyes really stand out, subtly celebrating similarities shared and differences that make us unique. 

This is a brilliant book, not only for encouraging children to join in but raising lots of possible talking points, such as animals, colours, patterns, habitats and curiosity... are cats purple? Brown Bear shows us that anything is possible! 

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