for ben and jeremy

stan berenstain, of the berenstain bears, died today at age 82. (that spelling doesn't look quite right, but i think it is.) hearing that made me think of my brothers. they collected the books; or, i should say, mom collected the books for them, for years. they may have almost all of them, though i hear there are around 250 of them in all. admittedly, the quality of the stories went down over the years with the pressures of commercial success to put out more books or to have a message, but i think the boys have good memories of them just the same. i suppose the fond memories have as much to do with the actual bear family as it does with our family and our bedtime story time. so, boys, i thought of you today and i hope you read this.

i'm definitely going to read to my kids. i love bedtime stories. kayla will remember that back in our academy days when she introduced me to the joys of Winnie the Pooh i went across the hall every night to read one to her and lynette until we had read them all. those were good times. i tell ya, you're never too old.

in school i send two books home every night with my kindergarteners. it's introduced me to some good ones that i'd like to get for myself one day, and reminded me of some old favorites. here are some of them (i'm sorry i don't know the authors names):

corduroy
never say never
no kisses, please (or "besos, no, por favor")
el ratoncito, la roja fresa, y el gran oso hambriento (or something like that. i haven't read it in english, but i think the title is translated "the little mouse, the big hungry bear, and the big, red strawberry)
tiempos duros (i don't know what it's about, but i like the illustrations)
what do you do with a kangaroo?
the big, wide-mouthed frog

i'll add more as i think of them.