Listen, Listen (Bilingual Children's Book) - Somali-English

In Listen, Listen, author Phillis Gershator takes you on a virtual “sensory walk” through the changing seasons. In summertime, we listen to the insects “chirp and churr, buzz and whirr,” while in other seasons we hear crunching of leaves and clomping of boots. Ms. Gershator makes good use of rhyming, alliteration, and onomatopoeic words, so the text is especially enjoyable to read aloud.

The fun phrases are paired with equally entertaining and beautiful pictures, chock-full of little details. In Listen, Listen, Alison Jay, who also illustrated I Took the Moon for a Walk and has authored other children’s books, continues with her signature folk-art style. Her use of crackle varnish over the paintings gives the charming illustrations an aged or “antique” appearance.

In the back of the book are four pages - each depicting the same scene in a different season – along with a listing of things or animals commonly found during that season (e.g., a goose, a rainbow). Little readers will enjoy finding each item in the picture. Note that the vocabulary on latter these pages is only in English.