I had to read this aloud maybe a hundred nights in a row before I noticed what the text was plainly saying: everyone thinks they are being watched! And ironically, they are the ones doing the watching! From the titular brown bear who is certain that the red bird is watching him/her, each animal is watching an animal and projecting that the very animal they watch, is watching them!
In reality, none of the projected watching is happening. Each animal is watching a different animal, save for the children, who imagine that ALL the animals watch them, when in fact it is the children who gaze out at every animal.
Here are the lessons of the book:
- the people you think are watching you aren’t
- actually, it is YOU who is doing the watching!
- animal colors in real life may vary from depictions [though Franz Marc painted some lovely blue horses and I do hope their inclusion here is a nod to him]