Outside Reading
"It's vacation time. Hooray! Hooray! Let's spend it outdoors. Let's get away!" Stan and Jan Berenstein, The Berenstain Bears Go To Camp
These Berenstain Bear books were just about my favorite growing up. I don't remember why but I think maybe I liked the idea of reading about tamed bears who acted just like humans. It was unnatural, kind of unique. Whereas we usually read about HUMANS in other children's books we get to read about bears in these books. Best of all, these books do more than entertain. They teach. I guess this one teaches children about cooperation and that they shouldn't take themselves too seriously. Sometimes it's necessary to have fun. Without relaxation one would cease to function effectively. For the Berenstain bears the way to relax is to go to day camp.
At camp, they learn to do arts and crafts, they learn how to do the "dead bears" float and how to canoe. More importantly, they have a chance to socialize with other bears their own age. And at the end of the camp Sister Bear has a chance to overcome one of her fears. In rereading this book I come to several conclusions that I failed to make earlier in life…
- This is a minor realization but I notice that in an illustration that Sister Bear gets a chance to gain revenge on Freddy Bear who hit her on the head earlier second day of camp. Basically I thought that this might teach children to seek revenge when someone does something to them. This isn't good, it doesn't teach children to do the right thing.
- Another thing I now notice is that Brother and Sister Bear have this unusually close relationship. They not only get along but they're friends as well. He's a good brother. But they have to share a room and frankly I think it's kind of unfortunate. Nonetheless, they have this amazing relationship and it's good to see a brother and sister relationship that works.
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