Arts > Bill Martin Jr., 88, Reading Expert Who Drew on His Own Experience, Dies" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/14/arts/14martin.html">The New York Times > Arts > Bill Martin Jr., 88, Reading Expert Who Drew on His Own Experience, Dies Bill Martin Jr., who could not read more than a sentence at a time until he was in college but later earned a doctorate in early childhood education and led generations of young children to reading with simple stories like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom," died at his home in Commerce, Tex., on Aug. 11. He was 88.