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Orange Pear Apple Bear: Can a Good Book Have Just 5 Words?

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Can you write an engaging, educational, funny book with only five words?

Absolutely!

I originally grabbed Orange Pear Apple Bear at the library because I liked the appealing, simplistic watercolor illustrations. But now, my favorite thing about this book is how the author plays with the four words in the title to create different meanings and then cleverly illustrates them with pictures. On top of that, it rhymes!

My older kids (6 and 4 when we first read this book) were shaking with laughter and wanted me to read it again and again. Now my toddler still loves to read this book. She’s not yet two, but she get’s that a “pear bear” is pretty funny.

Another good use for this book could be talking with older kids about how commas can change meanings. The pictures make clear that “apple bear” (a bear who looks like an apple) and “apple, bear” the bear eating the apple, have quite different meanings. You could even follow it up with Lynn Truss’s Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! (this is the kid’s version, though I highly recommend her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, as hilarious grammar refresher for adults).

But even if your baby has no clue what a comma is, he or she will still love Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear!

I highly recommend this book for babies through, apparently, six-year olds!

What is your favorite simple board book?

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