Recommended Reading List for Life Lessons: The Berenstain Bears

I was looking for some new books for Gavin when I stumbled across the Berenstain Bears series by Stan and Jan Berenstain which I thought looked pretty good. Since I haven’t actually read them, I can’t really say if they really are good, but I have two books on order from the Book Depository – Berenstain Bears visit the dentist and Berenstain Bears go to the doctor – so I’ll follow up with a review once we’ve received them and read them. They were on the recommended reading list at the back of The Cat in the Hat Learning Library: Inside Your Outside so I figure they have to be fairly decent at least.

I thought the series was interesting because the books cover a whole range of topics that are great for teaching children about a variety of life topics. Here are some of the topics which I thought thought were pertinent to Gavin:

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a reliable source locally (they were listed on the system as “out of stock”) so I had to purchase my books from the Book Depository. They ended up being cheaper anyway based on the listed price since the Book Depository offers free shipping.

While I was searching for their book titles online, I also noticed that they had Berenstain Bears DVDs, too. Maybe we can look for those if Gavin enjoys the series. Check out the sample clip on Youtube on “Berenstain Bears: Too Much Junk Food“.

When it comes to stories about life, it is important to make sure that the stories focus sufficiently on the solutions so that the take home message is not missed by the child. One of the problems with such programs, as highlighted by Nurture Shock, was that many stories spent too much time setting up the conflict but too little time discussing the resolutions that all the children end up learning is the conflict even though the conflicts are all resolved at the end of the stories. Perhaps to reinforce the take home message, it is important to talk about the stories with your child after reading/watching the stories.

About the author

Shen-Li is a stay-home mum to two boys who have been the inspiration for her interest in early childhood development and early child education. She searches for the balance in child development methods and the educational philosophies that will enable the nurture of happy, confident and successful children. She shares her views and findings at Figur8.

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Comments

hk says:

May 16, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Thanks for sharing! For those with Android or iphone, you might want to consider downloading the Berenstain Bear and Dr Seuss’ books to your devices. The app can read the books or allow the reader to read himself/herself. And its cheaper than the physical books. My son was not interested inthe physical books but loves the Cat in the Hat book app due to its interactive nature.

I know some parents are not in favour of using mobile devices for reading. But it is a very engaging tool for reading if used within limits to complement books.
HH says:

May 20, 2011 at 9:25 am

Thanks for sharing!
Shen-Li says:

May 21, 2011 at 12:46 am

Thanks for the headsup on the berenstain bear book apps. Yeah, the interactive books on the iPad are great! My son loves to read and ebooks make it a lot easier to bring books out with us rather than having to lug a whole bag of books around. It is also better for my second son who has been rather destructive with books. We still read the hardcopies at home and I’m slowly teaching my younger son to respect books.