Orange Pear Apple Bear
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Page Grabbers stage.
Why it fits Page Grabbers (for young toddlers who treat books as things to do)
Four words rearranged into an entire comedy. It shows toddlers that words are toys you can play with. Deceptively simple; genuinely brilliant.
What makes it special
Gravett wrote a book with four words and made it a comedy, a puzzle, and a painting lesson. Her loose watercolor bear, juggling and munching the fruit, models the joke with perfect timing. It shows toddlers — and reminds adults — that words are toys, endlessly rearrangeable.
About Emily Gravett
Emily Gravett is an English author-illustrator who has won two CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals, for Wolves (2005) and Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears (2008). Her books are witty and interactive, often making a game of the physical book itself.
She left school at 16 and travelled Great Britain for eight years, living in a variety of vehicles, before taking an illustration degree at Brighton. She made Wolves there as a course project, chewing the dummy herself to mimic the marks of a wolf's teeth.
Also by this author: Wolves · Again! · Tidy
More from “Point and Name”
This book is part of The Best Books for Toddlers: 30 Teacher Picks (Page Grabbers) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.