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Baby Bear
Baby Bear Sees Blue
Explore the world of color with Baby Bear!
Baby Bear has so much to learn about the world! From the moment he wakes until it’s time to curl up and go to sleep, he explores outside with his mama. They see green leaves, blue jays, brown trout, and—best of all—a patch of yummy red strawberries.
From bestselling picture book creator Ashley Wolff, here is a clever concept book that combines engaging and intricate linocut illustrations with a story that enthusiastically encourages children to identify a variety of vibrant colors. Young readers will delight in this chance to join Baby Bear as he discovers the colorful wonders of his lively, leafy forest home.
Baby Bear has so much to learn about the world! From the moment he wakes until it’s time to curl up and go to sleep, he explores outside with his mama. They see green leaves, blue jays, brown trout, and—best of all—a patch of yummy red strawberries.
From bestselling picture book creator Ashley Wolff, here is a clever concept book that combines engaging and intricate linocut illustrations with a story that enthusiastically encourages children to identify a variety of vibrant colors. Young readers will delight in this chance to join Baby Bear as he discovers the colorful wonders of his lively, leafy forest home.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2012
7 people are currently reading
945 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews
April 13, 2012
I like to think of myself as having a low cutesy tolerance. Cute is fine. Cutesy is not. As a new mother, though, I find myself in the peculiar position of finding books cute that in my pre-maternal state I would have laughed off as saccharine. Suddenly When My Baby Dreams is a book I literally cannot stop staring at whenever it comes across my desk (it’s unnerving how it plunges me into a near vegetative state) and Someday by Alison McGhee actually causes saltwater tears to form in my eyeballs against my will. Determined not to let the adorableness of the picture book world get to me I put up an extra coat of armor and trudged dutifully into my library to see what cropped up in the current season. Trouble is, that armor falls to pieces instantly when it comes in contact with something like Baby Bear Sees Blue. Not because it’s cute (though it is). Not because it’s beautiful (though it is). Not because it has a clever way of incorporating the theme of colors or because the writing is the perfect length or because it walks the tightrope between succinct and evocative (though it does, does, does). It’s because the darn book does all these things at once. An infinitely touching and strikingly beautiful title, this is one little picture book that I’m not ashamed to openly love.
On a beautiful day with the sun rising high into the sky a little baby bear wakes up alongside his mama. Drawn to the new light he asks “Who is warming me, mama?” “That is the sun” she replies, so he sits and looks at it a while. Once they leave their den there are so many other things to see. Leaves are waving green. Birds are flying blue. Fish are swimming brown. As the baby bear explores his world we see dark clouds slowly move in. At last the sky is gray, the rain falls, and the two bears are snug in their den again. As they watch, a rainbow appears, and then finally it’s time to say goodnight in the velvety black of the cave.
Ashley Wolff’s name will sound familiar to some of you out there. If you’re a children’s librarian like myself you may try to work out where you’ve seen her before. As the author and illustrator of more than sixty books my bet is that you probably know her best for her Miss Bindergarten series (Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, etc.). Then there are the books she’s worked on over the years that you’d remember if you saw them. For me, the Wolff books I’ve always known best were the illustrations for Raffi’s Baby Beluga, Who Is Coming to Our House and I recently had a friend recommend to the high hills the too little known (and now out-of-print) Only the Cat Saw. One thing I appreciated about the text in this newest book is that it’s cute without ever getting too cute. So Baby Bear might say something like “Who is waving at me, Mama?” when he sees a leaf blowing in the breeze but his mother doesn’t reply with any of those faux endearments like “my dearest one” or “my darling cub”. The answer is straightforward and to the point. “That is the oak,” she says. Additionally the writing combines informative text on colors with a story that’s actually rather exciting. In the course of the day the baby bear experiences the world through shades and tones and then Ms. Wolff closes with a supremely clever and comforting “Then Baby Bear closes his eyes and sees nothing but deep, soft black.” So on top of everything else, this is a bedtime book as well.
Though she is capable of using a variety of different illustration techniques it’s Ms. Wolff’s grasp of printing with linoleum blocks in black that impresses me the most. In this book the lines are much of the fun. Her art retains that sharp cut look of the block printing, but at the same time she’s managed to soften the images. There’s a great deal of painstaking work going on here. The best example of this for me was the two-page spread when the baby bear bats at orange butterflies. Look closely and you’ll see the striations in the wings of the delicate insects both near to the viewer and far. Sometimes block printing has trouble with bends and curves. Wolff, however, seems to have no difficulty presenting everything from a bird’s sloping beak to the bend of a mouse’s back. Added to this are some particularly vibrant watercolors. It was interesting for me to note when Wolff chose to fill a page with color or simply dot a moment or two with a significant shade. When Baby Bear sees blue, the left-hand page fills with a bird so large and impressive that its wings don’t fit the confines of the borders. Contrast this with “Baby Bear sees red” where a pair of tiny strawberries are mere splots of color in a sea of back fur and green foliage.
Normally when I review a book for kids I like to do it in a kind of self-inflicted vacuum. I refuse to read any other reviews for fear that I might inadvertently appropriate a turn of phrase or an idea. In this case, though, I sort of wanted to see what Goodreads made of the book so I broke my personal embargo. Interestingly enough I discovered comment after comment that mentioned this book in the same breath as Blueberries for Sal. Most of you, I’d wager, are familiar with that Robert McCloskey classic. It’s the book that taught us all to recognize the sound of blueberries being dropped into a pail (a onomatopoetic sensation only rivaled by the sound of snowflakes going “peth peth peth” in Lynn Rae Perkins's Snow Music... but I digress). The comparison seemed a little strange to me at first since I couldn’t find that there was too much in common between the books aside from the fact that they both contain cute baby bears and their mamas. Many is the children’s librarian who has discovered that for all its charms Blueberries for Sal is impossible to read aloud to a group of squirmy toddlers or preschoolers (due to its length it’s more of a one-on-one title). Baby Bear Sees Blue, on the other hand, is ideal for that age group. The length, the vibrant pictures, the wordplay, and the simple concept (colors) all combine to make it a surefire storytime hit. Finally I realized that the Goodreads folks kept invoking Sal not solely because of the baby bear but because on the book’s flap Ms. Wolff credits McCloskey’s classic as part of the inspiration for the tale.
Honestly the book this reminded me the most of was the Kevin Henkes picture book Old Bear. Like this book that one follows a bear through a variety of different hues. Yet while this one touches on all the colors of the rainbow in a single day, that one shows them in the context of their four seasons. Still, with their similar reading levels and simple text, these two books would be perfect complements to one another. Still on its own Baby Bear Sees Blue knows how to stand out. Though Ms. Wolff has plenty of books to her name, I suspect that this is going to be the one that sticks around for years and years and years and years. Infinitely comforting while remaining informative, this is for those kids who have graduated from board books but aren’t quite ready to sit still for anything longer than 32 pages. A book that doesn’t sacrifice good storytelling and gorgeous art for cute. A crowd pleaser for every age.
For ages 2-6.
On a beautiful day with the sun rising high into the sky a little baby bear wakes up alongside his mama. Drawn to the new light he asks “Who is warming me, mama?” “That is the sun” she replies, so he sits and looks at it a while. Once they leave their den there are so many other things to see. Leaves are waving green. Birds are flying blue. Fish are swimming brown. As the baby bear explores his world we see dark clouds slowly move in. At last the sky is gray, the rain falls, and the two bears are snug in their den again. As they watch, a rainbow appears, and then finally it’s time to say goodnight in the velvety black of the cave.
Ashley Wolff’s name will sound familiar to some of you out there. If you’re a children’s librarian like myself you may try to work out where you’ve seen her before. As the author and illustrator of more than sixty books my bet is that you probably know her best for her Miss Bindergarten series (Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, etc.). Then there are the books she’s worked on over the years that you’d remember if you saw them. For me, the Wolff books I’ve always known best were the illustrations for Raffi’s Baby Beluga, Who Is Coming to Our House and I recently had a friend recommend to the high hills the too little known (and now out-of-print) Only the Cat Saw. One thing I appreciated about the text in this newest book is that it’s cute without ever getting too cute. So Baby Bear might say something like “Who is waving at me, Mama?” when he sees a leaf blowing in the breeze but his mother doesn’t reply with any of those faux endearments like “my dearest one” or “my darling cub”. The answer is straightforward and to the point. “That is the oak,” she says. Additionally the writing combines informative text on colors with a story that’s actually rather exciting. In the course of the day the baby bear experiences the world through shades and tones and then Ms. Wolff closes with a supremely clever and comforting “Then Baby Bear closes his eyes and sees nothing but deep, soft black.” So on top of everything else, this is a bedtime book as well.
Though she is capable of using a variety of different illustration techniques it’s Ms. Wolff’s grasp of printing with linoleum blocks in black that impresses me the most. In this book the lines are much of the fun. Her art retains that sharp cut look of the block printing, but at the same time she’s managed to soften the images. There’s a great deal of painstaking work going on here. The best example of this for me was the two-page spread when the baby bear bats at orange butterflies. Look closely and you’ll see the striations in the wings of the delicate insects both near to the viewer and far. Sometimes block printing has trouble with bends and curves. Wolff, however, seems to have no difficulty presenting everything from a bird’s sloping beak to the bend of a mouse’s back. Added to this are some particularly vibrant watercolors. It was interesting for me to note when Wolff chose to fill a page with color or simply dot a moment or two with a significant shade. When Baby Bear sees blue, the left-hand page fills with a bird so large and impressive that its wings don’t fit the confines of the borders. Contrast this with “Baby Bear sees red” where a pair of tiny strawberries are mere splots of color in a sea of back fur and green foliage.
Normally when I review a book for kids I like to do it in a kind of self-inflicted vacuum. I refuse to read any other reviews for fear that I might inadvertently appropriate a turn of phrase or an idea. In this case, though, I sort of wanted to see what Goodreads made of the book so I broke my personal embargo. Interestingly enough I discovered comment after comment that mentioned this book in the same breath as Blueberries for Sal. Most of you, I’d wager, are familiar with that Robert McCloskey classic. It’s the book that taught us all to recognize the sound of blueberries being dropped into a pail (a onomatopoetic sensation only rivaled by the sound of snowflakes going “peth peth peth” in Lynn Rae Perkins's Snow Music... but I digress). The comparison seemed a little strange to me at first since I couldn’t find that there was too much in common between the books aside from the fact that they both contain cute baby bears and their mamas. Many is the children’s librarian who has discovered that for all its charms Blueberries for Sal is impossible to read aloud to a group of squirmy toddlers or preschoolers (due to its length it’s more of a one-on-one title). Baby Bear Sees Blue, on the other hand, is ideal for that age group. The length, the vibrant pictures, the wordplay, and the simple concept (colors) all combine to make it a surefire storytime hit. Finally I realized that the Goodreads folks kept invoking Sal not solely because of the baby bear but because on the book’s flap Ms. Wolff credits McCloskey’s classic as part of the inspiration for the tale.
Honestly the book this reminded me the most of was the Kevin Henkes picture book Old Bear. Like this book that one follows a bear through a variety of different hues. Yet while this one touches on all the colors of the rainbow in a single day, that one shows them in the context of their four seasons. Still, with their similar reading levels and simple text, these two books would be perfect complements to one another. Still on its own Baby Bear Sees Blue knows how to stand out. Though Ms. Wolff has plenty of books to her name, I suspect that this is going to be the one that sticks around for years and years and years and years. Infinitely comforting while remaining informative, this is for those kids who have graduated from board books but aren’t quite ready to sit still for anything longer than 32 pages. A book that doesn’t sacrifice good storytelling and gorgeous art for cute. A crowd pleaser for every age.
For ages 2-6.
April 2, 2012
This is dumb, but I dislike the typeface used in this book, and so I just skimmed it and set it aside. Then I saw on Fuse #8 that it might be Caldecott contender, so I picked it up again. The text has a wonderful rhythm and the illustrations are great for young children. It's really a winner, even though I still question the font.
Update: I shared it with my toddler story time group and it was a hit. The kids all covered their eyes at the end and saw "deep, soft black" just like baby bear.
Update: I shared it with my toddler story time group and it was a hit. The kids all covered their eyes at the end and saw "deep, soft black" just like baby bear.
September 17, 2012
Beautifully written and illustrated by Ashley Wolff, this charming book tells the story of Baby Bear's dawning awareness of the colorful world around him. (The gender isn't apparent until the very end, when a rainbow is the culminating experience.) Good for teaching colors, bears, passage of time, bedtime. The carefully detailed llustrations are made with handcolored linoleum block prints. There is no Lexile measure available, but the repetitive text makes this a predictable book (meaning predictable to beginning readers). Pair with Old Bear by Kevin Henkes and Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. Or Blue Sky by Audrey Wood.
December 19, 2024
My husband and I agreed we get to add our favorite kids book of the year to our good reads challenge, so this is mine. The story is so sweet and the art work is fantastic! We purchased this for our son after a home in RMNP before he was born and it’s truly a wonderful book ❤️
August 27, 2012
Enjoyed this gentle book. I liked that it didn't try to get too fancy; just set up a rhythmic back and forth between the mother and the child and didn't get its own way. I really liked looking for the mouse, who wasn't on every page...but looking for her meant I found lots of other great details!
May 24, 2012
I'm not normally a fan of color-centric picture books (so repetitive...so boring...), but this one has lovely illustrations a really nice, quiet story that would be a great way to end bedtime storytime.
November 19, 2013
A book my 6 yr old as well as my twin 3 yr olds loved. A solid reading level 1 book, this cute story keeps all ages engaged with the bright colorful pictures and cute story. A great addition to any children's library.
February 14, 2012
A beautiful picture book for introducing colors.
February 27, 2012
Nature, colors, animals, all in one good book! Baby Bear asks Mama Bear questions about items in his environment and each answer is an introduction to a new color. Great read aloud!
May 19, 2019
I actually didn't see where this one was going.
March 27, 2020
Nice picture book that introduces various colors.
September 8, 2020
Great book for learning/talking about colors. Love the illustrations.
July 21, 2024
Equally sweet story and illustrations. One of our family’s favorites.
February 26, 2021
This was a charming bedtime book and color book!
Read
November 7, 2021I really liked this story and paid attention to every page! It is very colorful and nice to look at. 🌈🐻 The last page where the mama bear and cub are going to sleep made me feel so cozy, I laid my head down on the page and pretended to go to sleep, too. 😴
I think we should read this again. 👶
I think we should read this again. 👶
November 9, 2013
Opening Lines:
Deep down in the den, baby bear wakes up. He yawns and blinks and stretches his stubby legs.
Synopsis:
All babies are inquisitive and Baby Bear is no different. As soon as he wakes up he starts asking questions. Who is waving at him? Who is singing? who splashed him? And for each question Mama Bear describes the aspect of nature Baby Bear is encountering, flora and fauna and thus Baby Bear discovers his colors. The waving leaves are green and the splashing trout is brown…right through to the end of this day and the grey sky of the storm and full rainbow of colors as the sun arrives, as well as the color as Baby Bear closes his eyes to sleep back in his safe den. Mama Bear is at his side patiently responding to every little question as together they explore the beauty of their forest home.
Why I like this book:
The simplicity of the synopsis does not do justice to the beautiful, evocative, heartwarming kid-centered nature of this story. It is a book that will make you go “ah” involuntarily! The mama/baby bond is adorable and comforting to readers, who know that their parents are there to reassure and respond to their queries as they explore their world. The shades and detailed linocut and watercolor illustrations of each double spread are luminous and inviting for young readers to discover and assert their color awareness. The red wild strawberries and the orange butterflies beckon readers into the charm and life to be found in the forest. The rhythm of the day mirrors the child’s own active days. While there are many books about bears and colors this was very fresh and attractive and had me rereading several times. The text is sparse and the pictures so dazzling that even very young readers will follow through on a group reading of this book.
Deep down in the den, baby bear wakes up. He yawns and blinks and stretches his stubby legs.
Synopsis:
All babies are inquisitive and Baby Bear is no different. As soon as he wakes up he starts asking questions. Who is waving at him? Who is singing? who splashed him? And for each question Mama Bear describes the aspect of nature Baby Bear is encountering, flora and fauna and thus Baby Bear discovers his colors. The waving leaves are green and the splashing trout is brown…right through to the end of this day and the grey sky of the storm and full rainbow of colors as the sun arrives, as well as the color as Baby Bear closes his eyes to sleep back in his safe den. Mama Bear is at his side patiently responding to every little question as together they explore the beauty of their forest home.
Why I like this book:
The simplicity of the synopsis does not do justice to the beautiful, evocative, heartwarming kid-centered nature of this story. It is a book that will make you go “ah” involuntarily! The mama/baby bond is adorable and comforting to readers, who know that their parents are there to reassure and respond to their queries as they explore their world. The shades and detailed linocut and watercolor illustrations of each double spread are luminous and inviting for young readers to discover and assert their color awareness. The red wild strawberries and the orange butterflies beckon readers into the charm and life to be found in the forest. The rhythm of the day mirrors the child’s own active days. While there are many books about bears and colors this was very fresh and attractive and had me rereading several times. The text is sparse and the pictures so dazzling that even very young readers will follow through on a group reading of this book.
May 22, 2012
Explore the world of color with Baby Bear! Baby Bear has so much to learn about the world! From the moment he wakes until it's time to curl up and go to sleep, he explores outside with his mama. They see green leaves, blue jays, brown trout, and--best of all--a patch of yummy red strawberries. From bestselling picture book creator Ashley Wolff, here is a clever concept book that combines engaging and intricate linocut illustrations with a story that enthusiastically encourages children to identify a variety of vibrant colors. Young readers will delight in this chance to join Baby Bear as he discovers the colorful wonders of his lively, leafy forest home.
This book would work for storytime. That being said, I would only use it in small groups or one-on-one. It's a nice story with a focus on nature, and provides interesting illustrations. That being said, I don't think that it works well as a begining concept book; simply because the illustrations are too detailed. There are just too many colors on a page for a child to focus on one concept (object). For example, when discussing the color red, the stawberries are about the size of my thumb and there are only five of them on a two page spread. If you have an older child who already understands the basic colors this book would work lovely. You could read it one-on-one and use it as a seek and find activitiy.
Subjects
Color -- Juvenile fiction
Bears -- Juvenile fiction
Nature stories
May 26, 2012
Baby Bear Sees Blue by Ashley Wolff follows a baby bear who, with his mother, wanders through the day discovering colors, animals, and changing weather.
Wolff's bright, detailed illustrations were created by printing on linoleum blocks in black, then hand coloring with waterclors. Among the many animals pictured are mice, squirrels, blue jays, birds, brown trout, bees, ladybug, grasshopper, butterflies, frog, snake and deer. My favorite images are yellow cave entrance, jays, under water, butterflies, lightning, and rainbow.
The descriptive and evocative text matches well with the beautiful illustrations. Sweet without being saccharine, this is a good book to reinforce colors. My sole complaint is that the strawberries could have been a bit more prominent for the red page. I loved the variety of animals that were shown, the different shades, and the storm. This would be a good choice for emergent readers, and a strong read-aloud choice. This is highly recommended for school and public library collections. It should get some award and best of 2012 recognition.
For ages 2 to 6, bears, colors, animals, five-senses, nature, weather, read-aloud, seasons, story-time, emergent-reader, bedtime, & fans of Ashley Wolff.
Wolff's bright, detailed illustrations were created by printing on linoleum blocks in black, then hand coloring with waterclors. Among the many animals pictured are mice, squirrels, blue jays, birds, brown trout, bees, ladybug, grasshopper, butterflies, frog, snake and deer. My favorite images are yellow cave entrance, jays, under water, butterflies, lightning, and rainbow.
The descriptive and evocative text matches well with the beautiful illustrations. Sweet without being saccharine, this is a good book to reinforce colors. My sole complaint is that the strawberries could have been a bit more prominent for the red page. I loved the variety of animals that were shown, the different shades, and the storm. This would be a good choice for emergent readers, and a strong read-aloud choice. This is highly recommended for school and public library collections. It should get some award and best of 2012 recognition.
For ages 2 to 6, bears, colors, animals, five-senses, nature, weather, read-aloud, seasons, story-time, emergent-reader, bedtime, & fans of Ashley Wolff.
September 12, 2012
Baby Bear Sees Blue is a great book for teaching basic concepts. This book is about a curious Baby Bear who has many questions for Mama Bear. With the turn of every page, Baby Bear learns something new. From colors to thunder, Baby Bear is discovering everything in his world. The illustrations are beautiful and immediately captured my attention. The illustrations also follow exactly what Baby Bear is seeing for the first time. Ashley Wolf did a fantastic job keeping the focus of the illustration on the concept being taught. I think this book is Caldecott worthy because Ashley Wolfe took some of the most basic concepts and made an interesting book that would hold the attention of younger children. It is a very simple book but it teaches colors and uses a variety of different shapes, animals and sounds. The illustrations are vibrant and capture the attention of the audience and I can see why children and teachers would love this book!
September 13, 2012
I love the bold illustrations in this book. The printing was created on linoleum blocks in black and then the hand coloring of watercolors was added. This technique made the images stand out. I like that it is a story about a mother teaching her cub about the world and patiently answering the questions in their journey outside the cave. I like the it teaches children to discover and look at the environment around them and take in everything. I like that the illustrator used simple words to describe what the cub was seeing and the illustrations really told the color without the words being needed. I like that the illustrator identified the different animals that can be found: the Blue Jay, the brown trout, the red strawberries, the orange butterfly, the gray sky from the thunder and the rainbow after the storm, then the final color of black when the cub falls asleep. This book caught my attention throughout it and I loved it. It is a great teaching tool for young children.
April 13, 2025
Very cute book. According to the author the book is influenced by Blueberries for Sal, and it shows. The book is a lot of fun to read aloud, and the colors make it very vibrant. I loved the illustrations, but I do think some of them appear a bit sloppy, and detracted a bit. I still think this is one that could possibly be considered for the Caldecott Honor, and even got mentioned in Fuse 8's spring predictions
August 27, 2016
Lovely blend of narrative and color concepts. And springtime. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, can't wait to use it at storytime, especially after reading previous reviews! Bright and bold, the colors are beautifully blended into the illustrations -- children have to search them out, just like in the natural world. Wish I had a preschooler, so I could go out to the woods for a color walk! And the ending is perfect.
1 starred review: PW.
See also Fuse #8's Caldecott/Newbery spring predictions.
1 starred review: PW.
See also Fuse #8's Caldecott/Newbery spring predictions.
July 17, 2012
The concept of this book is very simple, and nothing new if you're pretty familiar with picture books. Baby Bear and Mama Bear are out in nature, and Baby Bear keeps seeing/smelling/feeling something new. "What smells so good, Mama?" he'll say, and she'll reply, "Strawberries." Then the text will read: "Baby Bear Sees Red." (I'm paraphrasing here because I don't have the book in front of me.) There's a lot of repetition, which means that kids will love it and parents will... get tired of it. But what makes this book unique amongst all the other color/senses/animal books are the illustrations, which are bright and beautiful. They're nicely detailed, but have thick lines so your eyes know where to go. This would be perfect for a color/bear/five senses storytime.
Ages 3-5
Ages 3-5
September 13, 2012
Baby Bear Sees Blue was a hit! The illustrations stand out because the illustrator uses bright, bold colors throughout. The technique she used in the illustrations also stood out. I choose this book to be the winner of the Caldecott Medal because the book's illustrations pictorially represent the story. A baby bear is asking his mother questions throughout the story, and once his mom answers the questions as to what the baby bear sees, the page after shows what color he is seeing. Each page with the colors on them, was bold, and got the point across about what color the author was talking about. I had never seen children’s books illustrated quite like this one, which gives another reason as to why I think this picture book would be a perfect fit for the Caldecott Medal.
September 13, 2012
A story made for the curious child, Baby Bear Sees Blue is a perfect nominee for the 2013 Caldecott Award. The reader is first introduced to Baby Bear and his Mama Bear in what appears to be Baby Bears first adventure. What first captured my attention of course what the artist's style. Wolff uses a very textured watercolor style that is very appropriate for the young reader. The contrast of the bright colors the black Baby Bear sees work exceptionally well. We see that Baby Bear is most inquisitive and the nature of his questions emphasize he is but a child with a loving mother. Personally, I think this is sure to become a classic with children in read aloud especially. I particularly enjoyed Wolff's attention to detail not only in her drawings but the story as well.
June 19, 2012
Baby Bear wakes up next to his mother in the den. Sunlight peeks into the den, warming him and Baby Bear sees yellow. At the entrance to the den, the oak tree waves its leaves at him, and he sees green. The jays in the trees are blue. The trout in the stream is brown. The scent of the strawberries leads him to discover red. The tickle of a butterfly on his fur shows him orange. The storm clouds are gray, but then they leave behind a rainbow. Finally, at the end of his day, Baby Bear sees nothing but black.
Read the rest of my review on my blog, Waking Brain Cells.
Read the rest of my review on my blog, Waking Brain Cells.
February 29, 2012
I mostly LOVED this book. I will happily recommend it and use it in storytime. As I read, I was thinking, "hmmm. . .Caldecott perhaps?" There was one thing that bothered me, though, and kept me from giving it 5 stars. Most of the pages where "baby sees" a color, the color is very prominent. I love the way she featured blue, green, and orange particularly. But the red page was very disappointing. Visually, it is a wonderful image. It's beautiful, as is the rest of the book. But I missed really being able to focus on and glory in the color, as there are only a few small splashes of red on the page.
May 8, 2012
This is one of my favorite picture books published this year. Not only are the illustrations amazingly gorgeous, but the text reads smoothly and simply. I also appreciated how patient Mama Bear is with her very curious cub. She answers all his questions and lets him explore, but she is nearby should he get in trouble. This is a great book for teaching children to really see the world around them and the sights and smells that bring that world to life. It also makes for a tender bedtime story. Highly, highly recommended. I wouldn't be surprised if this book got some award love, in fact, I hope it does.
October 18, 2012
This is such a cute book. We often forget that children have another perspective in which they explore the world around them. In this story, a baby bear explores his rich and colorful environment with his mother by his side. Children will love the rich and vibrant illustrations. They will identify with baby bear's curiosity as he discovers that the leaf waving at him is green. The trout swimming in the river is brown. The grumbling thunder is gray and that when he closes his eyes, he sees nothing but deep soft, black, the color of his mother's fur. This would also make a nice bedtime story to read with your child.
August 31, 2016
This title focuses on the concept of colors without the usual plodding and somewhat boring delivery that may occur with concept books. Baby Bear explores nature and sees the colors in different objects around him---from the yellow of the sun to the gray of storm clouds. Nice option for storytime that will delight an older toddler and preschool audience. Opportunities for audience involvement as the objects are not named...rather "Baby Bear sees yellow" but the sun is not obviously stated as the source.
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