Member Reviews
I wanted to review this book with my granddaughter, but found myself enjoying it before she came to visit. This book is simply adorable while being educational. It was very well received by my 3 year old granddaughter also.
What a cute book! Reminds me if the spinning crank toy of my childhood. I loved the narrators calm well spoken words and sounds.
This was a cute and quick listen! As someone who is fluent in Hebrew, I really enjoyed this! I thought it was a cute way to explain how culturally things are different. I will definitely use this as a resource for my Hebrew language class in my 2nd grade class.
AUTHOR
Ellen Bari has created award-winning museum exhibits and programs for clients including The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Sesame Workshop, PBS, Nickelodeon and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Ellen, a fluent Hebrew speaker, lived in Israel and enjoys writing about a variety of Jewish topics. She lives in New York.
SYNOPSIS
Does Your Dog Speak Hebrew? is the most recent offering from the acclaimed children’s literature author Ellen Bari. This book is meant for parents of very young children who wish to ensure they begin learning Hebrew linguistically as soon as possible. Research supports the proposition that in order to increase the success of learning multiple languages, it is best started as early in a child’s life as possible. As you would anticipate from a book directed towards children 1-4 years of age, the content is purposefully short, simple and repetitive. This is no accident, but is done purposefully in order to hold the child’s attention; and through repetition, improve their retention of the story and thus the nuances of the language.
The narration is clear, concise and delivered in an accurate manner accent free. I would acknowledge the narrator’s name, but I was unable to establish it on this occasion.
I am reviewing the audiobook version, so I am unable to comment on the illustrations; beyond stating that if the front page is anything to go by, the images will be every bit as exciting and interesting as the narration and the dialogue.
CONCLUSION
Does Your Dog Speak Hebrew? is fun for children and parents alike. What better gift to give your child than a better understanding of the world through the languages we speak. I enjoyed it and I am completely confident that you and your children will also.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
SPECIAL MENTION – ILLUSTRATOR
Holly Clifton-Brown was born in London and attended Chelsea School of Art, Media, and Design; and Bristol UWE Faculty of Art, Media and Design, where she attained a B.A. in Illustration. Her work has been exhibited at The London Transport Museum. She is the author and illustrator of Annie Hoot and the Knitting Extravaganza and has illustrated other picture books including Big Bouffant and Big Birthday.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Ellen Bari, NetGalley and Kar-Ben Publishing ® & Lerner Audiobooks for affording me the opportunity to review Does Your Dog Speak Hebrew?
This is a fun animals sounds book, but I highly suspect the illustrations in the physical book make it a far better reading experience. I think the audio would have been much better, considering you don’t have the illustrations, if they’d used real animal sounds in place of the narrator.
"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
I only received the audiobook version of this book for review. The content of the story was simple but funny. I could definitely how this would be appealing to young children. However, I think the picture book version would be infinitely more enjoyable.
The text and the narrator itself were fine and the concept is fantastic: comparing the depicted sounds of different animals in Hebrew and in English. This audiobook would be a great companion to the physical (or digital) copy of the text, but simply does not work as a standalone.