Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (Brown Bear and Friends)

Good classic book

WONDERFUL BOOKS FOR KIDS

This and brown bear are two of my little one’s favorites !! Cute simple and easy for children to pay attention to !

This was very well loved and went well used

We love Eric Carl

My kids love the entire series. If your kids liked “brown bear brown bear what do you see?” They will be hooked on this as well.

This twentieth-anniversary edition of the classic “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?”, written by beloved children’s author Bill Martin, Jr. and illustrated by the renowned artist Eric Carle, has been updated with a larger format, a reinforced binding, and an accompanying CD of the story read by Gwyneth Paltrow. The book is part of a series of rhythmic, rhyming texts with vibrant, full-color illustrations that introduce toddlers and kindergartners to a host of zoo animals and the sounds they make. In addition to the polar bear, we encounter a lion, hippopotamus, flamingo, zebra, boa constrictor, elephant, leopard, peacock, walrus, and a zookeeper who hears the children as they follow the story with imitations of the animal sounds introduced in the text. It’s a delightful tale sure to engage children and bound to become a favorite bedtime story. The text is large and bold for easy reading by children. However, while the text, drawings, and sensory lessons are most admirable and the book is well worth the price, I have two criticisms. The sounds the animals purportedly make are not always accurate. For example, while lions do, indeed, roar and elephants do trumpet, hippopotamuses do not snort (they grunt, growl, roar, and wheeze), zebras do not bray (they neigh, whinny, and nicker [donkeys bray!]), and peacocks do not yelp (they scream, squawk, and honk). Walruses are the most vocal of the pinnipeds: they growl, tap, knock, grunt, bark, whistle, rasp, and click, but they do not bellow. I’m also concerned about the use of a CD for storytelling. CDs could be useful for older children or for children left to their own devices, but toddlers would benefit most when stories are read to them during bonding sessions with parents, siblings, extended family, and friends. Of course, not all children are lucky enough to have parents or other family members who read to them. These criticisms notwithstanding, “Polar Bear” has many excellent qualities and is recommended. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book and reading rhymes and evoking sounds are particularly appealing to children. Other books in the series by this dynamic duo include “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”, “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do you See?”, and “Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?”

A+