Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Starting off, the title is a mouthful. People always say this book is for reading aloud, preferably in a group of children, but the repetition pounds into my head like a jackhammer even when I read it silently. This book drove me so crazy that after reading it a few times to my eldest son when he was a toddler, I hid it so he wouldn't see it to request it. This is like the "Baby Shark" of previous generations. Maybe it's cute once, but it will not get out of your head.

There is no plot. It's literally just a repetition of the same phrase, followed by a different-colored animal each time (with a slight variation at the end). Most of the animals are natural colors, except for the strange inclusion of a blue horse and a purple cat. Eric Carle's trademark blocky, brush-stroke-filled shapes are on every page. I mean, I like his color choices, but I'm not a big fan. Especially with so many of the animals being contorted into awkward-looking positions.

Carle didn't actually write this one, which is authored by the extremely prolific Bill Martin Jr., also famous for "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", "Knots on a Counting Rope", and some variations on the "Brown Bear" formula: "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?", "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?", and "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?" I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But reading this book too many times breaks my mind.