Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Reviews

• 
  Sean Gibson

  Vastly superior to Brown Bear, Brown Bear (in my humble opinion), and infinitely more entertaining when read to you by a 2-year-old who conflates the two and starts saying things like, "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you see? I see a hippopotamus snorting at me."
  
  It's been suggested that this is evidence of the deep state's inherent distrust of autocratic authority, but I have yet to see any reliable scholarship or intel to confirm that supposition.
• 
  Calista

  Amazing artwork in this beginning board book classic for toddlers and people who appreciate artwork in picture books. The story is simple and repetitive of the title and they hear another animal and then it repeats over again.
  
  I love the animals chosen in this book and the end with children imitating the animals is fun. The zoo is a fun place.
• 
  D. Pow

  The key to reading this one out loud is getting into character as the animals. You've got to roar like a lion, growl like a polar Bear and hiss like a Boa Constricter. You've got to commit, go Old school Stanislavski like a young Brando. Be the frigging snake. Be the Bear. little Ones Dig it. And when you are phoning in the performance they will know that too. THEY WILL MAKE YOU PAY. So don't phone it in.
  
  I think one key to Carle's success is his his wonderfully inventive and eye-pleasing palette. Dude has a purple walrus here and a Blue Hippo. Man, I dig that. I could eyeball those two pages until Kingdom Come. What is it in my heart, that responds so to a Purple Walrus? Crazy, man.
• 
  Amy

  I grabbed this because I was doing story time and Brown Bear was missing.
  
  Pro-tip do not take this into storytime unless you know what a flamingo and a peacock sound like.
• 
  Sarah Kennedy

  Delightful read aloud. New rule: if you read the same book to a small child more than 20 times in one day, it counts toward your GoodReads challenge. ;)
• 
  Brad

  5 stars for
  Eric Carle's art.
  1 star for
  Bill Martin Jr.'s words.
  = a grudging average of 3 stars.
  
  I tried,
  D. I fully committed to the animals, man. I was like Robert deNiro shooting heroin for Raging Bull. I gained weight to play the purple walrus (how the hell am I going to lose it?). I painted myself with gentian violet, grew a handlebar mustache, jammed a couple of carrots under my lip and flopped around grunting.
  
  I poured honey all over myself and rolled in flour to play the titular Polar Bear. I cracked out my old Don Johnson duds to be the flamingo. I slithered around on my belly with a fork duct taped to my tongue. I was freaking serious about doing it right. I wanted TO BE the animals.
  
  But it didn't make a damn bit of difference. Where the first book's rhythm succeeds, the second book eschews rhythm and disrupts my reading. Every word is dissonant to me, and I just can't stand it, despite the beautiful art. Sorry, D. I wish I could come and watch you read it, though, because I bet you could convince me I am wrong. Any chance you'll post a reading on You Tube?
  
• 
  Karina

  We are fans of Eric Carle. Reading his books are like singing to them. I liked what each animal heard on the next page. It's interesting doing it in Spanish. Fun for kids to guess the name of next noise.
• 
  Ezi Chinny

  Favorite of my niece
  
  She loves animals so this story was right up her alley. I loved the variety and loved making the sound effect for her
• 
  Laura (Book Scrounger)

  I was surprised at how much my kids laughed at this book -- I think they decided all the words for animal noises (bray, hiss, snort, etc.) were pretty funny sounding, and I guess I'd have to agree. This is certainly my favorite "Brown Bear" sequel. The illustrations are great, as usual, and of course we can count on Eric Carle to not make *all* of the animals normal colors, considering the magenta walrus at the end. ;-)
• 
  Jazzmarie Vedrine

  This book is exciting to read and while reading, you may find that the characters of the animals create a rhythmic sound. You could easily create a melody or make this book into your own sing-a-long that will engage the children into the characters and movement of these zoo animals. The words written on each page are catchy, easy to read and easy to remember for young children. Another thing is the bold colors and the different designs and shapes of these animals.
  
  CREATIVE EXPERIENCE:
  One of the activities I had in mind is cutting out large enough pictures of each animal, gluing them on card stock and putting holes for eyes to see through the picture. Assign each child an animal to imitate, and act out loud, the sound it makes, for the class. Then the teacher re-reads the story and includes each child and their best version of their animal, a speaking part in the story. Another way in being creative with this story, is re-read this story and have the children GUESS the animal from the description of the sound it makes. If guessed correctly, you are able to go on to the next animal.
• 
  Kat

  Basic plot: animals and the sounds they make.
  
  Ok, Eric Carle's art is interesting, but I don't find it to be phenomenal. There are some good words in the text to describe the sounds animals make, but they are hard to reproduce when reading to a small child if you've never actually heard the sounds in question. Matter of fact, I would have rated this a solid 2 and moved on, BUT... my son picked up on the pattern of the pages and started chiming in to read the story with me after just a few pages. He also requested it for a second read. This gave me pause. Something about the book appeals to his child senses that doesn't hit my adult ones, and that's worth looking at. That's worth at least a star in my book.
• 
  Kimberly

  Cute! I'm surprised I haven't read this one before. I used it for a zoo-themed family storytime on 10/9/18. Lots of good vocabulary words for little people: yelp, bellow, flute, etc.
• 
  Melissa

  E: "I don't like how it's kind of like a song."
• 
  Michelle (In Libris Veritas)

  Just as lovely as the first book!
• 
  Heather

  If my 2-yr-old rated this he'd give it a 5. But he can't type so I'm giving it a 3. Love the illustrations. The "hear" part was a bit weird for me - "I hear a boa constrictor hissing at me", or whatever animal making whatever noise. Weird, but I can deal. I can't deal with the end. I hate it. The zookeeper then hears all these kids making the animal noises and they're dressed up like the animals, sort of. It's freaky. And my son looks at those strange kids and wonders what the heck they're doing. He likes the last pages of all the other books because you see all the animals together, just smaller. This new format doesn't work for either of us. But that doesn't stop him from asking me to read this over and over and over again. As a side note, my son would like you to know that "the zebra looks mean" and "that zebra scares me."
• 
  Chelsea

  I particularly enjoy reading this book when introducing the five senses to kiddos. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? entices the listeners to interact with each other, through guessing what animal may come next as well as making a variety of animal sounds. This is a fun and exciting way to begin talking about the sense hearing and what happens when the kiddos listen (hint: they're able to hear all about the animals and what sounds they make).
  
  Read during school visit on September 19th, 2018.
• 
  Christina Mallory

  Text-To-Text Connection
  This book is closely connected to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Although in this book the animals are describing what they hear it is still a connection between what the animals see in Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Being able to identify what the animals hear from the way something sounds they are using one of their five senses. In the story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, the animals are using another one of their five senses which if to see.
• 
  Courtney

  Caleb has been reading this in preschool so we have obtained a copy for ourselves. What can I say it is Bill Martin? I love his work!!! It is simple, easy to read, and both my children love him. I read him when I was growing up and I am sure my grandchildren will be as well. You can take so much from these books just besides reading but art crafts, but cooking and other fun things to do.
• 
  Kendra Elizabeth

  This is a book from my childhood that allows children to rhyme, but also learn about animals that are not commonly learned. It allows interactions from the audience which is important during read-aloud. This book could be turned into a classroom or home activity for children toddler age to second grade.
• 
  Zezinho

  "are you want you want a book a book a book a book I like the book hey Bam!" -actual review
• 
  Kelly Lin

  This was great that inside of the book it have many different animal. It is a good way for kid to learn different kind of animal. Also kid can use their imagination to guess the sound of each animal.
• 
  Dina

  Cute
• 
  Livvy Mae

  Such a good childrens book!
• 
  Melanie

  idk how to rate this book
• 
  Denise

  Classic and fun story I remember from my childhood! 🥹 The kids I read this with really enjoyed it. 💕