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Reviewed by:
  • Orange Pear Apple Bear
  • Deborah Stevenson
Gravett, Emily Orange Pear Apple Bear; written and illus. by Emily Gravett. Simon, 200728p ISBN 1-4169-3999-7$12.99 R* 3-6 yrs

This creative picture book cleverly combines concept book, rhyming story, and gentle brain teaser in a text limited initially to only four words. After an introduction of our four key titular nouns, the book then presents them in several different playful configurations: for instance, "Apple, pear/ Orange bear" shows the pear balanced on the apple on the verso, and the bear turned a delicious orange on the recto, while "Orange pear/ Apple bear" features the pear now turned a glowing orange and the bear now apple-y in both his rose-touched green and his plumply round rear end. After each of the three fruits meets its inevitable fate at the jaws of the hungry mammal, the cores and peels are tossed aside and the bear departs with a satisfying and rhyming "There!" This never makes its ingenious craftsmanship obtrusive, evincing instead a cozy jollity that invites audiences into its game. Figures are splotches of watercolor bordered in rustic, furry line; the fruits are very specific and homely foodstuffs, while the bear has all the spontaneous bodily expressiveness of a dancer or a toddler as he peers amiably out at the audience, tosses fruit up into the air, or lumbers away. The simplicity of the pared-down—peared-down?—text makes this suitable for novice readers as well as lapsitting audiences, and between the sweet orality of the elements and the cuddly approachability of the featured bear, this is one youngsters will eat right up.

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