I think one reason Berenstain Bears were so beloved was because at that time at Cedar Point, a popular amusement park near here, there was a big Berenstain Bears area - a little train to ride, hands on things all having to do with BB, dressed characters like the BB’s walking around and taking photos, recreations of some of their books (like the wonky treehouse to play and walk in, etc. - we only went once (not amusement park people!) but they were just the right age and so the books evoked a great memory.
We had books in every room of the house so there were also many other titles read!
Just started The Seed Keeper, just finished a history of textiles called Golden Thread
They loved Oliver and Amanda Pig books, and Tintin . (We didn’t read the most racist ones to them, yikes) Also a picture book called 17 Kings and 42 Elephants, which they can recite by heart even now
emphasized textGreat timing for the thread, since I’m looking at Kindle for vacation books.
Between books right now, though I did finish 5 last month. Usually I read novels (last was Killers of a Certain Age, after done with the tougher slog of North and South / CC book club). My most recent completion, read in bits over a few months, was the long deferred An Inconvenient Truth book by Al Gore that the kids left behind.
My favorite childhood book was Charlotte’s Web, which my beloved third grade teacher read to us one chapter per day during quiet time. Reread it on own when my kids were little. My friends and I were big fans of Little House on the Prairie books, would eagerly look for available titles during library time. In elementary school I was a huge fan of biographies - we had a big collection (children’s versions) at the school library, and I read very many of them.
Yesterday, I was reading Winter at Bletchley Park on my Kindle while GD1 napped. It’s the third fiction book I’ve read about Bletchley after reading some nonfiction books a couple of years ago.
I’m reading Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming. I’m late to the party on that one, but I’m enjoying it. I recently finished The Storied Life of A.J Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin. And before that, The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante.
There are so many books I loved reading aloud to my kids. Dr Seuss was always a favorite. As were Richard Scarry books, even though they took forever, naming every object on the page, I look back on them fondly.
My older daughter loved the Angelina Ballerina books. Younger D loved the Arthur books by Marc Brown and both loved Babar (the elephant books). Younger kid also liked the R.L. Stine series (Goosebumps). I thought those books were lame, but the school librarian said that Stine’s books appealed to kids and got them reading and that’s what mattered.
I had “Cat in the Hat” memorized.
And a golden book about some cats having a birthday party (I can’t remember the name now).
Edit: “Cheltanham’s Party” (google really amazes me at times). The illustrations are so delightful!
And right now I’m not reading anything. But always looking for a good audio book.
