I See a Song

by Eric Carle

Brightly colored forms represent music played by the violin.

Genres: Picture Books, Music, Childrens, Art, Fiction, Kids, School

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Eric Carle was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Cosette]

Feels awkward. Did I read this? Or is this DNF since I didn’t read a word?

[Madeleine Muth]

Title (italicize): I See a Song
Author:Eric Carle
Illustrator (if separate from author):
Genre: Concept book
Theme(s): Music
Opening line/sentence (type directly from text): Ladies and Gentlemen. I see a song
Brief Book Summary (2-3 sentences in your own words): This book has wonderful photos that help the children identify their own type of music
Response to Two Professional Reviews (3-4 sentences in your own words): BookRoo and Kirkus reviews both say this is a great book to introduce children to music. This book shows pictures of the violin and has a great variety of collages. Both say you should have this book in you classroom for music week.
Tell Me Framework (4 sentences in your own words):
Like(s): I like how the children can use their imagination
Dislike(s): There is no words
Patterns(s): There are all different types of different drawings
Puzzle(s): none
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words): you can have the children look at the book and describe how it makes them feel and the music that comes to mind when they see it.

[Nitoy Gonzales]

I get what the author wants to say but the execution to connect it to the reader falls short. I was expecting an all out illustrations (I like the drawing of the violinist) but what I got is are strips and shapes of colors to portray how songs (or should I say music and I think classical music) tell a story and SEE it in the mind of the listener. In short, the illustrations are lacking.

[Sue]

The illustrations are incredible. The story really depends on the viewer.

[Jessica]

I love wordless books, and I think this could be one of my favorites.

[Karla]

wonderful wordless book with great illustrations and open-ended interpretation

kids loved it

[Eliza]

wordless picture book, lovely illustrations

[Tasnim]

Clever representation of the beauty of a song. No lyrics, no words and no sound. Just vibrant arts in every page. It is not about reading, it is about feeling the message in the book.

[Madi C]

This has amazing illustrations that allow for kids to make up a song.

[Sydney Kalacinski]

This is a wordless book with vivid illustrations that would be great to have the students tell the story

[Canette Arille]

Awesome book! I like it very much. The illustrations are artistic!

[Maeve]

A violinist shares how he "sees" his music.

[Lucero Hernandez]

When reading I See a Song, I thought about the way that people tend to think about music and about how different music makes us think and feel. Well music also helps us see different visions. This is a great book to help students begin to think critically about music. This would be an excellent way for students to get involved in creative writing. Play a song for the class and allow for the students to write about how they can relate or connect to the song. Students can also involve themselves in writing songs or poetry.

[Susan]

I am not sure if this book would work for children, but it worked for me. It would be interesting to play different pieces of music with the different pages to see how well they match. Alternatively, I could see playing a piece of music then flipping through the book until the 'matching' illustration is found. Or doing neither and just letting your imagination soar along with the beautiful illustrations.

[Robert Loots]

I See a Song is yet another beautiful book from Eric Carle. It is full of beautiful illustrations, like all books from Carle. It's about a conductor who states he "sees a song", and by doing so, the pages are full of vibrant color. It is a genius idea for a picturebook with little amounts of text. I give it an A+!

[Sheila]

I loved this glimpse by Eric Carle into what a musician might see when composing a song. It also shows a more spiritual side of listening to music: that there is so much more there when we hear a song than just the actual sounds.

[Bethany]

This book is few on words yet powerful in a stirring mental jouney for the reader. My art teacher shared this book with us to teach us how art has mood, emotions, color, and ideas that go beyond words. Great book to use in an art lesson.

[Rebekah Jones]

This book really called on my imagination as I read the book. I kept thinking how fun this book would be to read to a group of students and have them come up with the music they imagination. I liked the book.

[Dani Kappel]

This is a picture book with just a paragraph of text at the beginning encouraging kids to sing and be open minded. I'd recommend it for narrative skill, it also is good for inspiring imagination. It is good for ages 0-6.

[Mrs. Stover]

Designed to stimulate a youngster's artistic sensibilities, this collection of shapes and colors by the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar features a musician and his violin. Reprint. PW.

[Heather]

This is not our favorite Carle book. Nobody liked it much at all. Sorry, Eric. We still love you though.

[Lea]

Do I have to like this book just because it was by Eric Carle? Well, I don't. So there.

[Alison]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Pt9C...

[jacky]

Technically, there are words at the start, but the bulk of this book is wordless. I highly recommend seeing Disney's movie of this book which is on the Very Hungry Caterpillar DVD.

[Stephanie]

What a great way to teach the concept to children about "seeing" music. So many applications can come out of this one.

[Joshua]

I guess if it was for a 3 to 6 year old it would alright, but I was looking at it as a book to read for our soon to be newborn. Not Carle's target audience for this book.

[Michelle Farella]

Wordless, amazing illustrations.

[Nicki]

maybe if it came with a song that you played with it, it would be better. A nice art book, but not a good children's book.

[Mei-Ling]

this book doesn't have a lot of words but is pretty to look at and talk about.