Book of the Week: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

Posted on December 17, 2015

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

By: Nancy White Carlstrom

Illustrated by: Bruce Degen

Recommended Age Range: 0-5

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? was actually a hand me down from my Aunt Allison and cousin Jessie. Jessie had gotten this book because, well, her name is Jessie, and it’s about a bear named Jesse…but namesake aside, it quickly became a favorite of hers and I can see why. We love this book. We read it often. To be clear, we read it over and over and over and again and again and again. And then a couple more times after that. It was my son’s request tonight at bedtime, so I figured it would make a perfect book of the week.

Reasons I love this book:

It’s simple.

The illustrations are beautiful.

It has great rhyming and cadence.

AND it’s a great jumping off point for encouraging little ones to talk about their day.

I’ve found that when A is REALLY wound up at bedtime, a great way to get his little brain settled is to talk about all the things we did that day. I think it somehow helps to quiet all the exciting memories and thoughts in his little mind. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? goes through Jesse Bear’s day from waking up and picking out his outfit to playing, lunch time, daddy coming home and getting ready for bed. It’s nice for kids to be able to follow along and see how their day was similar or different to Jesse’s. Added bonus: his lunchtime consists of celery, sprouts, carrots, peas, pear and rice…he’s a veggie loving vegetarian that happily eats his greens. Love it.

I think the best part about this book is that Avery loves it so much. We could read it 10 times a day every day and he would still pull it off the shelf and ask “Again?”.