Customer Reviews

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? (Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners)

5 star:		(147)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book is a Seuss classic and is perfect for babies as young as 4 months. The sounds are funny and you can interact with your child who will be fascinated by the noises you make when reading the story. Since the first words for many children are animal sounds, this book helps promote early speech. It makes a wonderful gift and is small enough that your child can "read" it him/herself. Highly recommended!

I highly recommend this book. I have been reading it to my daughter since she was four months old and she loves it. The sounds and noises fascinate her and she never takes her eyes off the pages every time I read it to her. This is one of the few books that has kept her attention repeatedly. We read it several times a day. It's one of Dr. Seuss's best!

Dr. Seuss' original book is a wonderful, rhythmic book. That book is suggested for children four to eight years old. It is NOT the same as the Bright and Early Board Book which will pull the same reviews here on Amazon.com as the original book!

The board book is an abridged version of the Dr. Seuss favorite. It is not a bad book (my son has fun with the board book which he received as a gift and likes to hear grandma make the sounds Mr. Brown makes). However, it is in no way as detailed as the original (no gum-chewing hippo for example) and the rhythm doesn't quite "work" in some places ("...He can sound like a bee. Mr Brown can buzz. How about you? Can you buzz? ...").

If I could separate my reviews I would give the Bright and Early Board book Two Stars and the Dr. Seuss original Four Stars. Perhaps if I didn't know that the board book was abridged I'd give it a higher score, but if you wish to make the better purchase, I'd suggest you go with the original.

I started reading this book to my baby as a newborn and she is now 8 months old and loves it! I simply have to recite the words ( which I've memorized) and she just lights up. It's a great book for a small child.

This bright and early board book is an abridged edition of a Dr. Seuss classic. The intent seems to have been to create an infant and toddler friendly edition of the book. Unfortunately, the editing was done very poorly. Much of what children seem to perceive at this age is "rhythm and rhyme" - the musicality of spoken language, if you will - not necessarily the story or the words themselves. In the editing process, much of the special "rhythm and rhyme" that makes Dr. Seuss so special was garbled. While some of the "noises" are still fun, much has been lost and this edition isn't half as good as the unabridged (non-board book) version.

If you are looking for a book of "wonderful noises" for young children in a board book format, a better bet would be Sandra Boynton's "Moo Baa La La La" (published by Simon and Schuster and available on www.Amazon.com). Or, wait until your child is a little older and purchase the unedited Dr. Seuss (also available on www.Amazon.com).

Incidentally, Random House decided to publish this edition without acknowledging the fact that it is an abridgement, in clear lettering, on the front outer cover . Other of this company's board books reportedly share the same problem. The legalities notwithstanding, this is certainly a misleading practice, if not outright unethical. Wake up, Random House!

This book deserves many more than five stars for its great ability to engage your child with books at a very young age! With this head start, you can expect to help nurture a lifelong love of books and reading.

Dr. Seuss must have known that children respond more to noises than to words. So this book emphasizes noises. It also provides a wonderful opportunity to act. The facial expressions, gestures, and body movements you make will create a strong impression. Soon your baby will begin to imitate the sounds. Imitating the word syllables and words is seldom far behind.

"Oh, the wonderful things

Mr. Brown can do!

He can go like a cow

He can go Moo Moo"

Sections all start off like that. Then they end with the encouragement to imitate:

"Mr. Brown can do it.

How about you?"

You can point to your child then, and repeat the sound with a nice smile.

Here are the animals or objects, and the sounds they make that are in the book:

bee -- "Buzz Buzz"

cork -- "Pop Pop"

horse feet -- "Klopp Klopp Klopp"

squeaky shoe -- "Eek Eek"

rooster -- "Cock a Doodle Doo"

owl -- "Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo"

rain -- "Dibble Dibble Dibble Dopp"

train -- "Choo Choo Choo Choo"

butterfly -- "Whisper Whisper"

horn -- "Blurp Blurp Blurp Blurp"

big cat drinking -- "Slurp Slurp Slurp Slurp"

clock -- "Tick Tock"

hand on a door -- "Knock Knock"

egg in frying pan -- "Sizzle Sizzle"

hippopotamus chewing gum -- "Grum Grum"

goldfish kiss -- "Pip!"

thunder -- "Boom Boom Boom"

lightning -- "Splatt Splatt Splatt"

The sounds are repeated as partial and total lists in several places. These repetitions can be made very humorous in your reading and cause gales of baby giggles.

Except for the lists, there is a beautiful large illustration to help your baby or child tie the sound to an animal or object.

A good way to enhance your baby's enjoyment of the book is to notice what sounds your baby seems to like already. For example, most babies like low, comfort sounds (in the moo moo range). You can add those sounds and your own drawings (or photographs) to go with them. You could have a refrigerator go Hum Hum Hum, or a car go Wrooom Wrooom. Your own ideas will be better than mine, I'm sure.

Have a wonderful time being a parent, and be sure to take the time to enjoy the pleasures of books like this one with your baby!

I ordered several of these thinking I was getting a great deal. SO disappointed when they came as TINY, ABRIDGED versions of the real Dr. Seuss stories. These should be labeled better! I shouldn't have to sort through 100 reviews to realized they're not what they appear to be. We bought 4, paying almost $20 plus shipping, but only got $9 back after paying return shipping costs. Biggest rip-off ever! If I had wanted books to put in my diaper bag- these would have been great. But as it is, I just feel swindled. Amazon- PLEASE clearly indicate that these are not the original Dr. Seuss books!

I began reading this book to my daughter at 10 months. Now that she's 18 months, she can not only supply all of the sounds ("moo", "buzzz!", "boom-boom-boom!") but she can recite many parts of the book with me. This book is perfect for the toddler who doesn't enjoy sitting still; you'd be surprised how long they want to sit in your lap and read this over and over. Now, whenever she sees a picture of a cow, she yells "MOOOOO!"

This review refers to the Bright and Early Board books edition (not to be confused with "Bright and Early Books") Random House has taken a great idea - publishing rugged, kid-friendly editions of childhood favorites - and turned it into an obscenity. In the process of "adapting" these books to the kid-friendly formula, they appear to have edited out much of the original charm and wit....not to mention size!

Disturbingly, the fact that these books are adaptations rather than originals is not clearly stated on the front cover, by the author's name. Instead, one has to look at the fine print on the inside of the front cover. One suspects that Random House feels these "Bright and Early Editions" wouldn't sell half as well if they were a little more forthcoming about what they have done.

It is truly sad to see that these books have been subjected to editing by Philistines who operate under the false illusion that what form a book comes in is more important than what is written within. We all want durable editions of books that can stand up to little hands. But the CONTENT of childhood classics has already survived the test of time; these books don't need to be re-edited, re-arranged, abridged, or adultered. SHAME ON YOU, Random House!!!

The board book version is a watered down mishmash of the original. All the fun of Dr. Suess's original rhymes and rhythms is lost making this nothing more than an expensive chew toy for your infant. Buy the original and keep some scotch tape handy!