Jamberry

By Bruce Degen (1995)

Recommended age: 3-6 years old (but a 2-year-old will love it too)

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Review

We love Jamberry. Truly love it and it’s one of our most read books. There’s a story, yet there’s a slight bit of nonsense to the book, which was done really well and makes it really fun to read. Little ones learn to speak in ways that are a mystery, but I’ve read that when there is a goofiness to the repeated consonant sounds, or there is rhyming, or there is a rhythm and or an entertaining cadence, it all helps. What we adults see as nonsense really helps little ones learn to speak. All of that is present here and done really well.

As for the illustrations, the drawings are entertaining and there’s a page without any words that has brought repeated giggles to my little one. There’s even a funny little berry related joke on of the pages. Each page leads to the next one with visual clues and as we’ve continued to read this one over the years, my little one has noticed more and more of how the pictures hint at what is to come. There is so much detail and activity in the pictures, the book is entertaining even without the words. There are multiple types of animals, and all the characters show emotion and friendship; and, the animals are just plain cute. This wasn’t the case originally but as we’ve continued to read this one my little one likes to point out different animals on different pages and talk about what they are feeling.

Cautions

This is minor but there is one page where a little bunny shoots fireworks up in the sky and the boy and the bear are in a hot air ballon. For the first 100 plus times we read this one, it wasn’t an issue. But around age 4 my little one noticed how close the fireworks are to the hot air balloon and got a little upset about how dangerous that would be.