The Bears' Almanac
Stan and Jan Berenstain
later published as The Berenstain Bears' Almanac
Random House, 1973
At the belated request of Antmusic, I bring you another fabulous oldie penned by the Berenstains from their short-lived and out-of-print "Bear Facts Library". Subtitled "Almost everything small bears and kids need to know about almost everything", that's overstating it a bit, but still... if you want to know about the seasons, the months, the holidays and the weather, it's a great place to start. Along with The Bears' Nature Guide and The Bears' Science Fair, the three make up what was eventually published in one volume as The Bearenstain Bears' Book of Science and Nature. In my opinion, these are the best of the best from Stan and Jan... big, busy volumes of illustration, fun and learning. Perfect to get lost in, time and time again.
Bear Country is so rich with back-story and characters, that wading into a hefty classic like this feels like home. We trust as Actual Factual Bear gives us, well, the facts. We fear for Farmer Ben when he almost gets whisked away in a tornado. We can smell the pumpkin pie on Momma Bear's Thanksgiving table. And when Papa Bear offers to show Brother how to fly a kite, we sense the inevitable disaster.
Flying a kite is a very fine thing
that you and I can do in Spring.
I'm ready Dad. Let me try it.
I'll take it out right now and fly it.
Not yet, my boy. Hold on, son.
First I'll show you how it's done.
Yeah, uh huh, we all know where that's headed. Keep an eye out for any and all of these (looks like the three-volume together is a little pricey, though). Such great books, packed with information... always a new picture to find, a new fact to learn. Not to be missed by any small bear.
Also by:Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree
The Big Honey Hunt
The Bears' Activity Book
The Bears' Nature Guide
9 comments:
Our copy of this book is BEAT UP to heck and back (thrift store purchase), but we still love it.
I've loved your blog for more than a year now, but I'm only giving you an award now. My apologies for not expressing my appreciation sooner.
How fun! My kids love Berenstain Bears, but I've never even heard of this one.
Another one of my purchases thanks to you. It is such an adorable book. Hoping to collect the others too. You have also started me on a Sesame Street collection. Thank you. Dee
super love this!
Meg, I can't believe you don't have these. It's a must for your Bear lovers... I admit I finally had to slink to eBay to get it.
Yea, The Bears' Picnic was an early one (i think it was the third one) and there are some creepy (awesome) elements...
One of my favorite Bearstein Bears books. Like Antmusic, this and the Bears' Nature guide are beat up as a result of having been read multiple times. That goes to show how much we enjoyed reading it.
My Mother, in an attempt to "Canada-ize" the book changed the lyrics for July 4th, so that it took place on July 1st, and celebrated Canada Day instead of Independence Day. This spoiled the rhyming, but was still informative nonthless.
I didn't know this and the Science one (which I never saw) were collected into one omnibus collection.
I loved Berenstain Bears as a kid although I never remember seeing this one. My youngest's current favorite is The Bears Vacation. :)
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