Dear Deer (Book)

Barretta, G. (2007). Dear deer: A book of homophones. New York, NY: Henry Holt.

Interest Level: Ages 3 to 7
Genre: Picture Book
Subjects/Themes: Homophones, Animals, Phonics, Humor,

Plot: Aunt Ant has just moved to the zoo and is writing a letter to her friend deer about all the different things that the zoo animals are up to.  On each page Aunt Ant describes a different animal using homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently).  The descriptions are funny and sometimes a bit tongue twisting. Also available in Braille.

Personal Thoughts: The illustrations in this book, done with watercolors, are colorful and detailed.  They help to illustrated the humor in the story and explain the homophones that are being used pretty well.  For example, "The WHALE was ALLOWED to WAIL ALOUD," shows a whale crying in his tank.  The homophones in each sentence are distinguished by an All-Caps typeface for easy recognition.  With only one sentence per page, I still find myself slowly enunciating each word due to the presence of homophones in the same sentence.  So you might want to practice more than a few times before reading the story aloud.  For an extended discussion, try asking the children what homophones they remember from the story or other ones they can think of on their own.

Awards/Recognition:
One of Parenting magazine's "Mom-Tested Books of the Year" (2007)
NCTE Notable Children's Book in Language Arts (2008)
National Braille Press Book of the Month (October 2009)

Author Website: Gene Barretta's Website 

Other Books by the Author: Now & Ben: the modern inventions of Benjamin Franklin (2006); Neo Leo: the ageless ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci (2009); Jack the Tripper (2008)