Thursday, October 9, 2008

Berenstain Bears & the Spooky Old Tree

The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree
Stan and Jan Berenstain ~ Random House, 1978


Where I have previously complained about The Berenstain Bears, I am now taking it all back. Though I am still not hep on the titles published past 1980, none-the-less, I have been forced into reading them to my son everyday... usually multiple titles, multiple times. Going back to the oldies, however, has proven to be quite pleasant. The Bear's Picnic, The Bear Detectives, The Bear Scouts, The Bike Lesson... these are all funny books that crack me up and take me back to many an afternoon spent sitting Indian-style on the floor of my elementary school library. This one and Bears in the Night in particular, because as you know... anything haunting was a turn on to me as a girl.

Three little bears.
One with a light.
One with a stick.
One with a rope.
A spooky old tree.
Do they dare go into that spooky old tree?


I've made my peace with the bears. If the boy loves them, who am I to deprive him of the joy Pappa Q. Bear making an ass of himself can bring? I even finally tracked down a copy of The Bear's Activity Book which I still love. I have to stop myself everyday from clipping out the Bear Country 3-D town, instead restraining the urge so that someday the boy might enjoy the fun.

Also by:
The Big Honey Hunt
The Bears' Activity Book
The Bears' Nature Guide
The Bears' Almanac

5 comments:

  1. I completely agree about the newer books. Love that you posted about Maurice Sendak too, he's our all time favourite. I enjoy your site, would you want to exchange links, I am at ...
    www.snickerdoodles.typepad.com

    kerry

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  2. This one is a favorite when we go to grandma's. I love the near peril throughout and then the comfort of home at the end. And great verse for reading aloud.

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  3. Oh such fond memories! The oldies truly are the goodies when it comes to Brother Bear and Sister Bear's adventures. :)

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  4. I have been looking for an older Berenstain Bears book from my childhood where they go looking for something or someplace(a place to have a picnic). It seems as though in one of the pictures they are eating a meal on a picnic blanket in several places (at least one of which is spooky...I think). Hmmmm. I wonder if this is that book. I am finding these older Berenstain books so hard to find. The newer ones are in every thrift store/rummage sale in the world, but the old one's are hard to find.

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  5. Yeah, The Bears' Picnic was an early one (i think it was the third one) and there are some creepy (awesome) elements...

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