The Paper Dart
An ode to creativity and distraction

What My Kids Are Reading 5/26/2020

Margot: 3 Years

Bedtime for Bear – By Bonny Becker

This book is a personal favorite of mine, and one that I have been meaning to send to all of my past college roommates, camp cabin-mates, and siblings, as the character “Bear” and I are truly kindred spirits. By that I mean we’re both pretty difficult to live with (lol, but seriously).  

The protagonist, Bear, is introverted, particular, and emotionally high-maintenance. When the book opens, a doorbell rings, and Bear is suddenly reminded that he had invited his beloved friend Mouse to sleep over. It soon becomes clear that Mouse is the antithesis of Bear, and readers may wonder whose mom forced this match in the first place. After greeting mouse, and spending a few pages spiraling into some pretty poorly-concealed regret and denial about the situation, Bear starts to loosen up a little. Soon, however, it’s time for bed and Bear commences compulsively reminding Mouse about his requirement of total silence after lights out. If you know me, this probably sounds a little familiar. 

Naturally, total silence does not ensue and, despite his goading of Bear, Mouse still comes out on top as the hero of the story. He not only puts up with Bear’s infuriating eccentricities, but also rises to the occasion of providing support when it becomes clear that Bear’s particularities are really just a mask for his fear and vulnerability.

I often tear up when I read children’s books to my daughter (much to her chagrin), and this one was no different. While I am sure it is intended to be a cute story about an unlikely friendship and the importance of protecting the hearts (and egos) of those we love, it hit a little deeper for me.

I spent a lot of time, especially in college, attempting to mask my anxiety. I had one friend even tell me that she envied my “laid back” attitude: a comment which made me actually laugh out loud. In college, and even today, the night is always the hardest, as literal darkness tends to welcome the figurative kind with open arms.

Anne Frank once said, “look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” This image of a tiny light in the nighttime sounds a lot like what Becker’s brave Mouse is for the apprehensive Bear, and what my husband, family, and good friends are for me. While my daughter loves this book because Mouse is “silly” and my husband always puts on a show when he gets to Bear’s trademark line of “WILL THIS TORMENT NEVER CEASE,” I love it because it shows us that real friends will find you in the darkness, even if you’re trying to hide.

Max: 14 Months

Ditty Bird: Children’s Songs

My mom sent me this one and, in all honesty, when I opened it, I raised a metaphorical fist in her direction. It has batteries. And it sings. In an Australian accent. 

Despite these initial warning signs, I was completely won over by this book when I watched Margot spend a WHOLE 5 MINUTES teaching Max how to press the buttons, turn the pages, and pat his head at the right point of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” He bounced, and clapped and didn’t take his eyes off of her the entire time. When this book broke (which is a testament to how poorly we treated it, not the quality of craftsmanship) and my kids were back to body-slamming one another into walls, I immediately purchased a second copy. In short, I highly recommend it. 

The Bear and Mouse Series:

Ditty Bird: Children’s Songs (and others!)

What My Kids Are Reading 5/22/2020

Margot: 3 Years 

Roxaboxen By Alice McLerran

The elementary school I attended as a kid backed up to a small forest preserve. The fields and playground equipment, on which we were allowed to play during recess and lunch, were bordered by what we used to call a hill, but which I would now describe as a snaking mound of dirt. Beyond the mound were the trees and swampy wetlands of the “forest” we were only allowed to enter on special occasions, like when we lived like pioneers for a week in the third grade. 

Many of my clearest childhood memories–ones that I know weren’t falsified by photographs or my parents recollections–took place on this mound of dirt. Every recess, all of the kids in my class would take up shop at one of the trees, stumps or bushes on “the hill.” We spent hours harvesting leaves, berries and sticks, mining for rock money and selling our homemade “jams” and “pies” to one another. 

I distinctly remember that a girl named Emmy was the boss of the village. She always set up shop in the best tree–one whose branches hung low to the ground and created a kind of natural tee-pee–and sometimes dictated which other business were allowed to operate and where. We all respected, admired, and oftentimes talked smack about Emmy. I look back on her now, fondly, as something of a first boss. 

Rediscovering Roxaboxen has been like rediscovering a piece of my childhood. The story follows a group of kids who spend their summers joyfully pretending to be adults. They build houses, self-organize and solve conflicts. They remind us how simple the game of life could really be, if we just stopped taking it so seriously. At the end of the book, one of the children, now grown, comes back to Roxaboxen, and her serendipitous rediscovery of a rock she once used as “currency” is such a sweet reminder that growing up doesn’t have to mean letting go.  

Max: 14 Months 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear (Slide and Find Edition) – By Eric Carle 

This has been both of my kids’ “first book.” I have, obviously, shown Max books prior to this one, but Brown Bear, Brown Bear was the first book he didn’t try to eat or throw at the dog. He is delighted by the pictures, and thrilled by the challenge of the little sliding doors. I’m also pretty sure he said “blue horse” the other day, which just about killed me. 

Where to next?