Sister Bear
Abbie’s earliest favorite books were simple. Ideally, they had bright colors, sturdy pages, and a low words-per-page ratio. “Red” or “two” were perfect concepts to express on one page, but her attention started to drift at “two red birds.” Throw a verb (“flying”) or an extra adjective (“noisy”) on the page, and I might as well recite passages from Ulysses because she didn’t hear anything beyond word #3.
Now Abbie is older, and her books are more complicated. Their colors are more muted, their pages are more susceptible to tearing, and sentence length is comparable to those spoken on most reality television shows. She’s no longer captivated by simple counting books that build tension through a seemingly random yet oddly familiar sequence of numbers. Her favorite books express ideas and comment on society, such as what would our world look like if it were populated by anthropomorphized bears?
Her current favorite books are the Berenstain Bears series. These books that I remember reading as a child feature a family of bears, creatively named Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister Bear. The bear family teaches kids important lessons about welcoming a new baby, meeting strangers, and staying away from strangers if they happen to be adults.
Not that Abbie understands any of these lessons. She understands the general concepts, but not the lesson she’s supposed to learn. For example, “Too Much Junk Food” teaches children the importance of proper diet and exercise. Abbie enjoys reading it because of the frequent mention of candy. “Mmm, jelly beans,” is one of her frequent comments.
In “Too Much Vacation,” the Bear family endures their worst vacation ever, yet learns to look back at the annoyances and laugh. Abbie learned from the book to associate umbrellas with vacations because the cover shows the family standing in the rain while holding an umbrella. During the many opportunities we’ve enjoyed this spring to practice holding an umbrella, Abbie always says, “I’m going on vacation!”
Abbie doesn’t quite follow these books. She usually turns the page before I finish reading it, forcing me to give an abridged version. After a few reads through the book, I usually learn where I can cut the last half of a page without losing plot, and where I can skip over details in the middle of a page without compromising the exposition’s integrity.
The biggest lesson she’s learned from these books is at least one of the Bear family members appears on each page. Rather than listen to me as we flip through the pages, she’ll exclaim, “There’s Papa Bear!” or “There’s another Papa Bear!” It’s cute, especially when she starts calling her real family by the Bear names. “Papa Bear,” she’ll say pointing at me, “Mama Bear” as she points to mommy, “Sister Bear” as she points to herself, “Brother Bear, and another Brother Bear!” she says with supreme pride. She’s learning lessons from these books, even if she stops paying attention around word #5.
Now Abbie is older, and her books are more complicated. Their colors are more muted, their pages are more susceptible to tearing, and sentence length is comparable to those spoken on most reality television shows. She’s no longer captivated by simple counting books that build tension through a seemingly random yet oddly familiar sequence of numbers. Her favorite books express ideas and comment on society, such as what would our world look like if it were populated by anthropomorphized bears?
Her current favorite books are the Berenstain Bears series. These books that I remember reading as a child feature a family of bears, creatively named Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister Bear. The bear family teaches kids important lessons about welcoming a new baby, meeting strangers, and staying away from strangers if they happen to be adults.
Not that Abbie understands any of these lessons. She understands the general concepts, but not the lesson she’s supposed to learn. For example, “Too Much Junk Food” teaches children the importance of proper diet and exercise. Abbie enjoys reading it because of the frequent mention of candy. “Mmm, jelly beans,” is one of her frequent comments.
In “Too Much Vacation,” the Bear family endures their worst vacation ever, yet learns to look back at the annoyances and laugh. Abbie learned from the book to associate umbrellas with vacations because the cover shows the family standing in the rain while holding an umbrella. During the many opportunities we’ve enjoyed this spring to practice holding an umbrella, Abbie always says, “I’m going on vacation!”
Abbie doesn’t quite follow these books. She usually turns the page before I finish reading it, forcing me to give an abridged version. After a few reads through the book, I usually learn where I can cut the last half of a page without losing plot, and where I can skip over details in the middle of a page without compromising the exposition’s integrity.
The biggest lesson she’s learned from these books is at least one of the Bear family members appears on each page. Rather than listen to me as we flip through the pages, she’ll exclaim, “There’s Papa Bear!” or “There’s another Papa Bear!” It’s cute, especially when she starts calling her real family by the Bear names. “Papa Bear,” she’ll say pointing at me, “Mama Bear” as she points to mommy, “Sister Bear” as she points to herself, “Brother Bear, and another Brother Bear!” she says with supreme pride. She’s learning lessons from these books, even if she stops paying attention around word #5.
posted by Matt at
11:34 PM
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