Jamberry Reviews

• That's how you write a kid's book!

  
  By A1C4PZDQ84I9MA on 2005-09-26
  What a cute book! Bruce Degen tells the tale of a young boy and a jovial bear rollicking through a decadent world of fruit. The illustrations are luxuriant and detailed, composed of iridescent deep blues, reds, and purples. The text is catchy, with a Seussian quality:
  
  "Quickberry!/ Quakberry!/ Pick me a Blackberry!/ Trainberry/Trackberry/Clickety-clackberry."
  
  It's nonsense. The good kind of nonsense. The kind that gets stuck in your head whether or want it their or not. In fact, this morning, on my way to work, I caught myself improvising a vulgar, burlesque variation of Jamberry. I'm not proud of that, it just happened, but it put a smile on my face. Please don't tell anyone.
  
  The book closes with an afterward in which the author explains that he was inspired to write the book based on childhood memories of picking berries with his grandparents. Every time I read the book to my daughter, she makes me read this afterward to her. It's a nice personal touch, lets you know that it's a labor of love.
  
  Anyway, thumbs up. That's how you write a children's book.
  
  
  

• Great Fun! One of the Best Children's Book Around!

  
  By A1SYLII0808HD6 on 2000-06-02
  One of my all-time favorites for children aged four months to 2 1/2 years! The youngest will enjoy the enthusiastic alliterative rhyming and the bright colors; toddlers (and adults!) will also enjoy the clever pictorial links between each page (preparations for fireworks are shown in the corner of one page; delightfully exploding berries on the next).

  I don't know whether this book is more fun for the reader or the listener ("Raspberry/Jazzberry/ Razzamatazzberry/ Berryband/Merryband/Jamming in Berryland"), but it will fast become a favorite for you and a child! An enchanting tale, beautifully told: A perfect gift!
  
  

• The MOST imaginative book ever written for infants!

  
  By A1E7QLJVWNFOZY on 2002-04-14
  Come along and sing the song of "Jamberry" in "Jamberryland." A little boy befriends a dancing bear that is picking scores of berries in Berryland. The illustrations in this book are OUTSTANDING, sweet, and silly, beset with wit and surprises such as fruit tart flowers, butter-cookie lily pads, and bread vines to name a few. Visually stunning, as well as wonderfully rhythmic too, "Quickberry! Quackberry! Pick me a blackberry! Trainberry, Trackberry Clickerty-clackberry!" Terrific use of alliteration. This dynamic little board book will captivate your children, and don't be surprised if it charms you too. Indeed, "Jamberry" is one of the MOST imaginative books ever written for infants and young children! Birth and up.
  
  

• Fun for younger Kids

  
  By on 2000-02-21
  In the Children's book Jamberry by Bruce Degen, the pictures tell practically the whole story. The story begins with a sweet brown bear taking a berry picking adventure with a curious little boy. As they go about their berry-finding expedition, the illustrator depicts each scene with enormous imagination and creativity. The pages hold bright pictures that are simple enough for little children to comprehned and detailed so that each page holds someting new and entertaining. As the pair find themselves in going over a Niagra like berryfall, we see bread growing on bushes and jellybeans steming out of rivergrass. Upon arriving in Berryland, the two march in a berry parade, which circles the raspberry jam skating rink. This story holds age appropriate material which will hold toddlers attention enough to get to the ending where the the berry explorers expereince a jam jamboree with berries of all types. I highly reccommend this book for younger children. After reading it to my little brother once, I am now asked to read it everynight!
  
  

• What rhyming fun!

  
  By on 1999-10-27
  My daughter said "OHH" for the first time when we turned the page and all the berries had fallen out of the canoe. Beautiful pictures and fun rhymes to go along.
  
  
• Fabulous!!!
  By A1ZOQC2ARU81I9 on 1999-10-22
  This book is one of my favorite children's books ever written. It is fun, sweet and my babies have loved it. I give it to every mother to be that I know!!!
  
  
• I Want Berries! Great Book For Kids
  By on 1999-09-16
  Our three year old "reads" the book from memory -even the last two paragraph afterward by the author. Theillustrations are fun and the text is wonderful. Great book Mr. Degen!
  
  
• Kids Love It... Some Adults Find It Insipid
  By A3486ZAVO8THOB on 2006-02-26
  I have a slightly contrary view of this book to many other reviewers.
  
  Let's start with the important part. My 21-month old daughter loves it. She loves the whimsical illustrations of the boy, bear, and other animals in various berry-ful settings. She loves the fanciful rhymes and alliteration. And she certainly loves berries!
  
  But I confess that when she pulls this one out of the basket to read, my heart sinks just a bit. It's a bit too cute for me, with its "clickety clackety pick me a blackberry" style. So I read it... but I find myself wishing she had picked something a little less treacle-y.
  
  
• My son and my favorite book
  By A1ESKK5ETZ5GX7 on 2006-06-06
  I bought this book when my son was 11 months old. The cadence of the whole book is wonderful. I've read it slow and I've read it so fast I can't keep up with myself turning the pages. It was quickly a favorite of mine, and when my son was old enough he would get this book from his 'library' and hand it to me. Even now (he's 8) we love this book. He reads it to me. And I love to ask "faster, faster" like he would do when I was reading to him. This spring we planted a strawberry pyramid and 3 blueberry bushes. It was funny that I didn't think of this book when my son said he wanted to plant these. But it makes perfect sense now. This will be a book that is handed down to his children and bought for his nieces and nephews I'm sure. The board book format is so excellent, the book is still in fabulous shape.
  
  
• splendid,worth to buy
  By on 1999-12-18
  My daughter loves it more and more. First time, she just tries to pick up the berries. Now she pickes it up wherever it is. When we read the story for her, she sits there untill we finish reading it. She giggles when the canoe turns over from dam. She is only 11 months, but she turns the pages one by one, again and again, touches the bear, the berries... more than one hour. Reading and playing this book so far becomes one of her favorest thing. We feel that it was right to buy this book for her.
  
  
• My son's absolute favorite
  By A2QX3SEAXI80N3 on 2006-04-09
  This is the first book my son picks out for us to read, everytime. In fact, we're on our second copy, ready to get our third, of the board book, it is so well worn.
  
  Just repeating "strawberry ponies and strawberry lambs, dancing in meadows of strawberry jam" gets him giggling, even without the book - very useful for fussy times.
  
  A great gift or great for your own children.
  
  
• The absolute best!
  By on 2000-01-18
  Kid's , and parents will love the rollicking rhymes of Jamberry. One of the few kids books that I can stand to hear (and read) over and over again. The pictures are beautiful, and kids see new details everytime they look at them. My kids have enjoyed this book for years, and even know the afterword by heart, for that's where Mr. Degen discusses how he used to pick berries when he was a kid. Get it in hardcover or boardbook-this is a book you will want to save for your grandchilderen!
  
  
• New Favorite Bedtime Book
  By on 2000-02-17
  We gave Jamberry board book to our daughter for her 1st birthday. It quickly became her favorite bedtime book surpassing Goodnight Moon. After we read it to her, she sits in her crib and pages through it until she nods off. Bright colors, pretty drawings and lyrical verse.
  
  
• My daughter's favorite book!!!
  By on 1999-08-28
  My daughter often reaches for this book, even if it's among others on the floor. We have been reading it together since she was 3 months old. While she loves to have me read it to her, and claps her hands with glee at the sing-songy text, she also enjoys "reading" it to herself and looking at the beautiful illustrations (as she's doing right now). When I don't have the book with me, all I have to say is, "One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry" to make her laugh with delight. I highly recommend this book!!!
  
  
• A real language-developer!
  By on 1999-08-12
  I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. This book has been the favorite of both. They began to choose it as very small children, and then they began to "read" it along with me, word for word! (And some of the words are quite challenging.) I believe it has helped them with language development, and I know it has contributed to their love of reading. If you're only going to buy one book for your toddler, make it this one.
  
  
• I consider this one a MUST HAVE
  By A30H2335OM7RD6 on 2002-05-21
  When I taught, I enjoyed books like this that had a catchy rythm and a lot of take off points for teaching. This book is wonderful. We would make bread and eat toast and jam, we'd jump rope to the book rhymes, we'd find rhyming words and more. Now that I'm a mom- this book is still a favorite of mine. Now, my son and I do fun things- the other day, he helped me make jam after we read this book.

  This book is a must have in my opinion. The rythm is catchy and fun. The illustrations are adorable. Children like this book. I've never known a child to not like this book.

  Enjoy.
  
  

• My toddler twins LOVE this book!
  By on 2003-04-16
  I have to admit that when I first read this book, I wasn't too sure what I thought of it. As another reviewer said, it contains a lot of fanciful words: jamberry, moonberry, berryband, and so forth. My twins absolutely LOVE this book, though! To them, it's every bit as good as their favorite Dr. Seuss classic. They enjoy the rhyme and repetition of the words, and love to look through the beautifully illustrated pages to find things they recognize. We have a lot of books, and this is the one that they will ask me to read every day (sometimes more than once). We've nearly worn out one board book by reading and rereading it, so I'm going to buy another for them soon. I highly recommend this book for your toddler!
  
  
• a little story...
  By on 1999-07-28
  This was my most favorite book when I was little :). I'm 17 now, but I bet my mom still knows all the words to it. I was reading some recipe that wanted tomatillos when I read a footnote that said they are also known as JAMBERRIES! I had the weirdest deja vu flash of the picture of the train with the blackberries and the berry fireworks at the end. So I checked amazon just to make sure that I wasn't imagining things. I got a new copy, and eventually found my old one in my grandma's attic. If you've got a little kid, you MUST get them this book... :)
  
  
• Too off the wall for me
  By on 2003-03-14
  I read of all of the reviews and it sounded good. However, after...reading it, I realized that it was a little too fanciful for me. I don't mind a made up word or two but we're trying to teach our kids words and there are too many fanciful things "shoeberry, moonberry, cloudberry, trainberry, zoomberry raspberry rabbits, etc." Yes... I'll admit that there are some Dr. Seuss books that I don't like for the same reason. It started out cute and the illustrations are warm and friendly but as a teaching tool it rates really low with me. I'll be returning it.
  
  
• no love from our book lover!
  By on 2004-03-12
  My son is 18 months old and LOVES books. He seems to have an insatiable desire for books. I was disappointed by the "busy" illustrations and awkward reading. This is the only book we own that doesn't hold his interest at all.
  
  
• Fun rhymes, great detail in illustrations
  By AKWBQG1NTY5S6 on 2005-12-21
  My 2-yr-old daughter requests this book on a regular basis. It's one of her favorites and one of my favorites as well. We both enjoy the sing-song, cute poetic rhythm of the book. However, she LOVES the illustrations. There are various details for which she searches every time: "raining blueberries", marshmallows, etc. And we always find something new and intriguing about the illustrations. We think this is a terrific book, and I recommend it to everyone I know with children. We'll always have a copy in our home!
  
  
• Love it!
  By AWX9XGY3TKVX2 on 2006-07-08
  This is one of my daughters favorites (and I like it too!) It is a fun book to read and the pictures are really cute. Our copy goes almost everywhere with us-a second copy is in the future!
  
  
• Love the bouncy words and pictures
  By on 2000-06-21
  My 12 month old loves this book. He loves to laugh with us when we're reading the bouncy words. He also likes to search for the bear on every page. It's a great book; I have 2 older boys, so getting this as a gift for my youngest was extra special, because I'd never seen it!
  
  
• lovely book
  By on 1999-12-07
  My baby loves this book very much. She always try to pick up a piece of berry from book.
  
  
• My son's favorite 14 year ago. Now I'll get it for my nephew
  By on 1998-10-17
  This was my son's favorite when he was a baby. His grandfather read it to him every day, and after awhile my son could recite it himself. He even paused at the end of each page, waiting for his grandfather to turn the page! I can still remember the beginning... "One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry. Hat-berry, shoe-berry, in my canoe-berry. Under the bridge and over the dam, looking for berries, berries for jam." Now I'm ordering a copy for my brand new nephew.
  
  
• Great book
  By on 1998-05-04
  This is one of the first books that my son loved. We still read it now that he is 2, but it is wonderful for reading to a 1 year old...Great pictures, great rhymes.
  
  
• Jamberry
  By A3Q43W25C5PXHB on 2000-10-24
  My son Ben took to this book right from the beginning. We have been reading this book for almost a year and my 2 1/2 year old has memorized it from beginning to end. Starting with "Jamberry by Bruce Degen" It is one of the few books that I don't mind reading time after time after time again.
  
  
• Fun for Adults, too
  By AU95NV02K6SUC on 2000-11-17
  A children's book should be both enticing for children and fun to read for adults. This book is both. Your tongue will trip over the great writing in this book. It is a treasure at our house and remains a favorite... even with my 4.5 year old! I highly recommend it!
  
  
• Possibly the best childrens book ever written.
  By A1JBOCC198WPHR on 2000-12-12
  This book is so classic, and I can't imagine rasisng children without it. This book, as I look back at it, gives me such a trip back to when I was in kindergarten. It's rythym is easy for children to pick up on, and its illustrations are dripping with color and imagination. It is a perfect book for kids to sit with you and read. You must own this book! It is as nessacary as many childrens "blankies". Don't try and give your children generic books. They will love this book (so will you)!
  
  
• Just as much fun for the reader
  By AWYTAU24179LV on 2001-08-24
  I just love reading this book to my one-year-old daughter. Kids love books that rhyme and this one is particularly fun to read. Each page has great illustrations and so much to look at. I can only read board books to my daughter because she loves to grab at the pages. This is my favorite board book and my daughter never complaints when I read it to her over and over again!
  
  

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