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A video interview with

Bill Martin Jr

Bill Martin Jr’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear book is almost required reading for parents of young children. In video clips below from A Visit With Bill Martin Jr (1996), he talks about his "jazzy" writing. Bill Martin Jr also corresponded with Reading Rockets in an e-mail interview in which he answered questions about his writing career and famous "bear books" illustrated by Eric Carle.

Click on the links below§ to watch this interview online, or read the interview transcript. You can also read a short biography of Bill Martin Jr or see a selected list of his children’s books.

View online

A bird egg in his pocket (1:15)
When Bill Martin Jr entered college, he was still trying to keep a secret: he didn't know how to read.
Jazzy writing (:20)
Bill Martin Jr feels an intimate connection between music and language, a connection children can hear in the language of his books.
If you're going to be a writer, you've got to be a reader(1:45)
In this video clip, Bill Martin Jr recounts the thrill of reading his first book.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (2:30)
Bill Martin Jr describes how he wrote his most famous book in just 15 minutes. In this video clip, he also sings the text for Brown Bear.
Giving order to chaos (1:20)
Bill Martin Jr talks about why writing for children is so important.

^§ To play this clip, you'll need a copy of the free RealOne Player. Most computers already have it installed, or you can download it now.

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