The New York Times notes the passing of Bill Martin Jr., author of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom.”
Eden Ross Lipson writes (excerpt):
In an interview with the Northwestern University alumni magazine this summer he said: “I create simple poetry that children know in their hearts. They recognize these sentences in my books as they see how the sounds transfer into print.” He added, “Once the child assimilates the structure or pattern of the poem, they are able to read the entire story by mentally plugging in the new animals and their movements that appear on each succeeding page.”