Orange Pear Apple Bear

Emily Gravett (2005), 32 pages

Audience: babies, toddlers

Format: picture book

The ultimate rhyming book! Through clever wordplay and smart illustrations Gravett relates an entire narrative using just five words. Deceptively simple, this book features many educational aspects such as phonemic-blending, colors, shapes, and counting skills. Wordplay includes using words as nouns and adjectives; for example bear is shown eating a pear and later being pear-shaped; or an orange is pictured and then used to describe bear as orange-colored. Gravett repeats these elements throughout the book, infiltrating even the book's endpapers (apples, oranges, and pears line the pages) and copyright statement/publishing information which forms the shape of pear. With such attention to detail, its no wonder this book is a delight to young children! A wonderful introduction to shapes, colors, and rhymes; build a baby or toddler's vocabulary by using real fruit (apples, oranges, and pears) while reading the book.

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: Andy That’s My Name by Tomie dePaloa

Other books by this author: Meerkat Mail, The Rabbit Problem, Blue Chameleon, Monkey and Me, The Odd Egg, and Dogs