Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Bill Martin's Bears #2

by Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle (Illustrator)

Korean edition of a delightful picture book POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR, WHAT DO YOU HEAR? (Brown Bear and Friends) by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by award-winning author/illustrator Eric Carle, translated by Lee Hi Jae.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Storytime, Classics, Kids

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Bill Martin, Jr. (1916-2004) was an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet. His more than 300 books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See ; Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear ; Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See ; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children. Martin held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. Born in Kansas, he worked as an elementary-school principal in Chicago before moving to New York City, where he worked in publishing, developing innovative reading programs for schools. After several years, he devoted himself full-time to writing his children's books. He lived in New York until 1993, when he moved to Texas. He lived in the east Texas woods, near the town of Commerce, until he passed away in 2004.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billma...

Reviews

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Christian Schultheiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every once in a while you just have to bring a little carle and Martin jr, if not for anything more than a fun/lovely short picture filled read, that does teach but also entertains. Polar bears being my favorite animal, and my personal intrigue with the purple walrus obviously brings a little boost in my rating of this book but truly I never knew it was a sequel to brown bear and even though I’ve read this countless times, the material in this one just doesn’t seem impactful so it just doesn’t stick with me. Still a lovely classic and the twist ending was cute and it’s definitely little children friendly, so don’t avoid this read or take this rating too seriously, it just didn’t move or compel me like some of their other works have. 2.75/5

[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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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) · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sarah Daknis]

Goes insane

[Harlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the boa constrictor sound!

[Ailish O’Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as good as its predecessor! Mum had to google what sound a flamingo makes though 🦩

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

E: "I don't like how it's kind of like a song."

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as lovely as the first book!

[Carl Sandberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite confusing in the beginning when animals from different continents interact with each other. I don’t want to ruin the end for anyone, but you should know that it all makes sense in the end.

[Jaylyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction: A great beginners books! Another one of my favorite books growing up, I believe these types of beginners books are awesome because they have lasted for so many years that it makes me as a teacher really want to have students read them. Students anywhere from 4 to 5 or 6 would enjoy this book.

Reading in groups: This book could be fun to read in a group because it is asking a question. This could get the students involved and have them asking their neighbor what they think the Polar Bear is hearing. The pictures in the book would also be good for individual reading.

Reading individually: The pictures would be good to get students reading on their own and understanding what the book is trying to say. The wording is super easy and the repetitive diction would also be great as an individual story. This could be a fun book to read on break or at snack.

Literary Devices: No literary devices used but the book does have awesome pictures that help the students with the vocabulary.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

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."

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Is a fabulous book for getting children used to rhythmic words. I have read this book lots of time to children and they always enjoy repeating the story with me. It is very good in encouraging drama and role-play skills; I have used it in a cross-curricular way incorporating it in a PE lesson getting the children to pretend that that they are the different animals in the story, and to move around like them. The pages in the story are mostly taken up by simple but beautiful illustrations with just a small amount of text to read. It would also be a good story to read when looking at repetitive refrains in stories. I would recommend this book for children up to the age of around 5/6 years.

[Lori Nii-amassah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” is a book that all children will love. The colors used are vibrant and eye catching. With each new animal introduced, the same question is repeated. Children can participate by asking the question and making the animal sounds.


You could extend this book by having the children work together to put story pieces in the correct order according to the book.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

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).

[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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Kelly Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute