Thursday, May 7, 2015

WWRW: A Brown Bear, A Yellow Duck, and...A Purple Cat?

I love the What We're Reading Wednesday link-up.  Thanks for hosting, Jessica.
I'm a bit busy these days, so I haven't had as much time as usual to spend reading grown-up books; instead, I've been reading cardboard picture books to my wee grandson G-Man, who like all of us has his definite favorites when it comes to literary material.  Sometimes, he gets a little whiny about two pages into a book, and I quickly toss that one aside and grab the next one in the pile.  But he does have a couple of books that he never gets tired of listening to; and when I say never, I really mean NEVER.  You can read two of his books to him over and over again, without him ever getting the least bit bored.  I blogged about one of them, I Love You, Through and Through, in a recent post.  That title is pure gold as far as my little G-Man is concerned.

My discerning grandson's other favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  I just looked at him and said those words to him this morning, and he smiled immediately.  He knew I was talking about that book, one he knows forward and backward already.  He can listen to its sing-song cadence indefinitely.  Apparently, this book first published in 1967 is considered a "classic," but somehow we never discovered it when our own boys were young; so sadly, they missed out.
 
My middle son, G-Man's daddy, is not a huge fan of this book.  For the most part, it stays in the land of reality--with a brown bear, a yellow duck, and a black sheep; but it also includes a blue horse and a purple cat.  My son just can't deal with those two color choices.

G-Man, on the other hand, has no trouble with animals that come in fairy tale hues.
He loves that purple cat.  He loves ALL the animals in this book.

I know there is a real talent involved when it comes to writing books that can hold the attention of very young children like G-Man, tiny people who've only been in the world a matter of months but already know what they like and what they don't.  The authors of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle) have that talent in spades.

Now head on over to Housewifespice for more reading recommendations!

8 comments:

  1. Brown Bear was my niece's favorite for so long. Uncle would read it over and over and over to her and it was never enough. Sweet!

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    1. I have grown to love that book, right along with the little guy. :)

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  2. I have no idea how I found your blog, but I love reading your stories. I particularly love them because I have my own G-man. Literally, the same first name and he was born just a few days after your G. Likewise, my wedding was just a few weeks before your son's. Brown Bear is one of my very favorite books and we just got it for our little guy, he loves it already! It is obvious you are a wonderful Grandma, your children and grandchildren are very blessed!

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    1. Erin, thanks for stopping by, and for your nice comments. It's so neat how closely your story matches my middle son's. And that your bany boys even have the same name! :)

      I'm glad you found my little corner of the Internet!

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    2. I meant "baby boys," of course. I just noticed that typo. It's hard enough for me to type on my iPhone two-handed...but one-handed while holding my grandson---yikes!

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  3. "Brown bear" was actually.Christopher's first two word phrase. And in Polar Bear Polar Bear there is a walrus and my boy loves all things walrus so that has even eclipsed Brown Bear in number of reads. I love G-Man's fine taste in literature.

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    1. Wait...there's a "Polar Bear, Polar Bear"??! I'm heading over to Barnes & Noble, ASAP!!

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