Bears in the night

This story is about the bears go on an adventure in the middle of the night. The bears decide to climb a hill and got scared. Then the bears walked back in the same order to the tree house. This book teaches children to remember the order they do things.

A bed full of sleeping bears jump out the window and up Spook Hill when they hear a noise. But what they find at the top of the hill frightens them right back to bed!

This appears to be one of the earliest works by the Berenstains. The characters are not yet developed, and this isn't their typical

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moral story. In fact, there really isn't much of a story at all. However, the repetition of language should hold the youngest readers' attention and help them learn simple words and their concepts (i.e., over, under, down, up).

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The cover of this book identifies it as being a Beginner Book for Beginning Beginners, which sort of puts me way, way, way out of its category. This book is pretty much designed for people who are learning to read (though surprisingly, there are probably more people my age who are at this level,

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and have spoken English most of their lives, than the government is willing to admit).
Hey, I'm not going to knock this book because as a kid I loved it. The sentences were very short, and related well to the pictures, so it enables us to identify the sentence and the action with the picture that it relates to. It also repeats the same phrase regularly so, as a kid who is learning to read, it helps put these concepts into our minds. Also, it is useful for training in the use of prepositions, because each of the actions relates to one of the bears in relation to an object (over the wall, under the bridge, between the rocks).
It makes me wonder though if the way that language is constructed, and Wittginstein indicated just that, that the whole concept in and of itself, is relative. Things only have names because we give them names, but the name itself, of an object or an action, is pretty much relative. In fact, even the preposition that is used to define the relationship between two nouns, is also pretty relative. I wonder, as I read this book, whether I can actually translate it into German, which may be a good exercise as I attempt to learn the language.

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This is a cute and spooky story for the kids. My daughter isn't to much of a fan, but my son loved it. I am always reminded of Halloween when I flip through its pages. A very good lesson for children that they shouldn't leave the house when it's night time.
Spooky reading to you kids!

A Berenstain book all about prepositions, as told through the adventures of some nighttime wanderers.

Another look back on my childhood as I reorganize my bookshelves.

And yes, it's Berenstain. It's always been Berenstain. This book is copyright 1971, and it's BerenSTAIN. The only time it was

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BerenSTEIN is when the publisher relied on outside vendors (such as the VHS publishing) and they got it wrong. Seriously, I have a VHS tape that spells it BerenSTAIN on the cover and BerenSTEIN on the tape itself. No conspiracy, just an unexpected spelling that we all confused in our heads because we expect it to be Berenstein instead of Berenstain. It's Berenstain.

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Seven little bears sneak out of their house one night in this prepositional adventure, hot in pursuit of the "Whoooing" noise they hear. Out the window, down the tree, over the wall, under the bridge, around the lake, between the rocks, through the woods and up Spook's Hill they go, until they get

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such a scare that they turn right around and make for home...

Although I have many happy memories of reading both the Berenstain Bears books and Dr. Seuss' Beginning Books for Beginning Readers collection as a girl, I never happened upon Bears in the Night until very recently. I feel sure that this spooky adventure, with its element of rebellious fun - sneaking out at night! - would have made quite an impression on me back then. Reading it now as an adult, I appreciate the way in which it is constructed - the language is very simple, uses a great deal of repetition, and centers prepositions at every stage - and that the linguistic lesson it is teaching is communicated in such an entertaining way. Recommended to fans of the Berenstain Bears, to beginning readers who enjoy spooky stories, and to teachers looking for fun titles featuring prepositions.

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