How to Be

by Lisa Brown

This is a book about how to be Bear Monkey Turtle Snake Spider Dog. This is a book about how to be Person.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime, Family

32 pages, Library Binding

First published May 1, 2006

About the author

LISA BROWN is the bestselling illustrator and/or author of a growing number of books, including How to Be, The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, and Baby Mix Me a Drink. She draws the Three Panel Book Review cartoon for the book section of the San Francisco Chronicle. Lisa lives in San Francisco with her son and her husband, who is rumored to be Lemony Snicket.

Reviews

[Aolund · Rating 4 out of 5]

A picture book in vignettes, this book shows two kids with white skin and straight hair doing different actions showing how to be various animals (a monkey, a turtle, a snake, etc). A great option to have in the back pocket for restless storytimes, as it would be very fun and effective to have kids act out the different actions that the children in the book are doing.

Themes: Animals, Pretend/Imagination, Dance

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute-ish illustrations of children acting out the qualities of certain animals. In a nutshell: selective imitating animals is the secret to success in life. I won't be reading this to my son. He already thinks he's a cat and is trying to lick things.

It's fine.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Be brave like a bear, be patient like a turtle, be creative like a spider…” BE YOURSELF! This is a fun picture book that encourages children to be brave, patient, creative, charming, friendly, but most importantly to be yourself! Lisa Brown writes about different characteristics that children should try to be, but in the end they should be true to themselves. This is a great beginning of the year read aloud for first grade. Throughout the year I go back to it and encourage students to be brave like a…. and they all respond BEAR! Or when they are being patient I will say, wow, look at these patient turtles! It is a beginning of the year text that I use throughout the year.

[Andy Nordvall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I love about this, and Lisa Brown's airport book is how she hides lots of side stories and subplots in the art. There are a ton in the airport book. This is one is more the story of two siblings who occasionally tease one another but still enjoy one another, but this story is hidden in a faux instruction manual how to imitate various animals.

[Lisa]

This book had everything to be adorable, so I'm not sure why I didn't like it more. Maybe that the siblings were (realistically) frequently bugging each other? Maybe it was just that my kids didn't get into it. oh well!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely short picture book about how to act like different animals (great ideas for imaginative play 💡) . Then one quality from each animal is restated under the heading How to Be a Person. Highlights the similarities between humans and animals and gets a person thinking about who they want to be.

[Claudia Naranjo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book that shows how to be yourself

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on how to be various other creatures, including how to be a person.

[Hunter Lisiecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it because the six animals traits told you how to be yourself!

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful little nugget of reading!

[Kayla Spires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using simple watercolor and pen images surrounded by white boarders, Brown creates a lighthearted story of siblings pretending. It talks of how to be various animals, ending in how to be human. The book acts as a cute comparison between animals and human, and the emotions that come with people.

[Janna Gifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to be by Lisa Brown is a picture book that targets children in the nursery age group. This book is about a brother and sister sharing about how they would be certain animals. The duo goes through how to be a bear, monkey, turtle, snake, spider, dog and then a person where each page will show how both of them will act like that animal in their life. I would rate this book as four stars based on the plot as well as the pictures. Looking at the pictures, there is not a ton of color on each page but what will capture the children’s attention is the cartoon like pictures of the brother and sister doing things to emulate an animal. For example, in the first section of how to be a bear, you have the picture of the sister growling at people and then you see the brother “hibernating” on the couch. The pictures will make the children laugh and think about how they are like the animals as well. I think that it is great that there is not too many words on the pages and the children can relate to the duo. I think that the plot of being an animal is a fun concept to explore and it could be a great tool to have the children create their own book on how to be other animals that are not listed in the book. I think though that for some children, they might get bored with the pictures and theme very quickly and the reader would probably have to do sound effects for some for the pictures to keep some entertained.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this picture book. It tells you how to be different animals. Be a Spider "crawl along walls, make a web, wait for food to come to you, be creative." There are similar suggestions for being other kinds of animal. Then at the end it tells you to be human, and combines traits from the other animals in the description of being human. My favorite is being a monkey "Eat with your toes." Kids love this book too!

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not super into the JUST BE YOURSELF, SELF ESTEEM IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE CAN GIVE A CHILD because srsly work ethic and perspective and a stable, supportive community to be a part of are all probably more important and aren't necessarily something built in to most children. But this book barely has any of that and actually is more about wonderful, healthy little traits instead of just "being yourself" (even though it ends on that note).

[Marc Lucke · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to Be is both elegantly written and beautifully illustrated, providing broad life lessons in deceptively simple language. With clear analogies to the behaviour of well-known animals, the two siblings in the book demonstrate how to function well in civil society and have fun to boot. This book has prompted many great conversations with my kids over the years and I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming rumination on what it takes to be various animals. A great activity could be built around kids picking an animal then identifying their own salient qualities and illustrating them with black oil pastel and watercolor.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute enough. Perfect length & dynamics for a storytime (and I can see several possible PreK activities that could be paired with it).

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sweet book with a simple, valuable lesson.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clever book, perfect for 2-5 year olds.

[Atena Oyadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple but lovely illustrations in 7 colors; Simple and lovely writing following a brother and sister as they demonstrate how to be various ways. One of my favorites.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to be a dog, a snake, a monkey, a spider, etc., and how to be a person. Simple, and great!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

toddlers

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would have worked well when my students were writing how to be poems.

[Prplpckl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creative and fun story to explore adjectives.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple. Charming. Love the message.

[JS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and simple--little illustrations of how to be different animals, some funny and silly. Not a go-out-and-find-it-now read, but fun.

[Julia Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this is such a fun simple book. Well - seemingly simple, like many book of the author, but it is simple with a twist. Most important of all: my daughter adores it and knows the book by heart.

[Leyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! My daughter ended up reading the book herself.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and creative read with two messages we really enjoyed. First, there is a theme about sibling relationships, which was spot on. And second, the message at the end: be yourself.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was featured on Between the Lions.