Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr/ Eric Carle (Board Book)

"Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See"? is the final collaboration from this bestselling author-illustrator team Martin and a newcomer named Eric Carle. After Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967), Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (1991), about zoo animals, and Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? (2003), about endangered animals, this third sequel continues the thematic approach with an all-American animals and with great attention paid to the continent's many regions.

Martin's rhythmic text cleaves to the familiar pattern and leads readers from one double-page animal portrait to another, all crisply set against white backgrounds. Adults may appreciate the educational prospects of the North American angle, but the appeal here for the youngest children—as with the book's predecessors—will be in examining the complex, collaged textures within Carle's simple forms and in gleefully anticipating the appearance of each critter in the sequence. Young readers will enjoy Baby Bear's quest to find Mama, and they'll revel in identifying each of the native North American animals that appear along the way. The central focus on the special bond between mama and baby makes a fitting finale to a beloved series. Now in board-book format for the youngest readers.