Josh

=**The Bears' Holiday**= The Bears' Holiday is about a family of bears going on a summer vacation. All is well and good, but as the little bear wants to go out do things, he needs to be taught the rules and risks, and to find out all the fun to be had at the beach. Papa bear is happy to teach him, but he isn't that good at following his own rules.

The author of The Bears' Holiday is Stan and Jan Berenstain, who were often called The Berensteins, were American writers and illustrators who were most famously known for creating the children's book series, The Berenstein Bears. The first Berenstein Bears' book was created in 1962,the series as now grown to over 300 titles which has sold 260 million copies in 23 different languages. Stan was born on September 29 1923 and was sadly taken away due to cancer on November 26 2005. Jan was born on July 26 1923 and passed away on February 24 2012 due to a stroke. During their work on the Berenstein Bears' series, they worked in unision with Theodor Geisel (Dr. Suess) to create a long lasting franchise which also included a television series, toys and stage productions. These books were part of the Beginner Books franchise. The book was written in 1968, when the Vietnam war was being fought, and also the Mexico Olympics were being held. The book was written in a time of suffering for many countries. Racism was still very relevant in this world and bad things were happening to many people. It was also the year that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead in his hotel room. The launch of the Apollo program was also in 1968

I chose this book because it was one of the first books that my parents had read to me. I don't remember barely any of the books that were read to me, but this is one of the few that I do, so in a way it is kind of special. I remember being really into humour and things that could make you laugh and this book done that exact thing to me, make me laugh. It is special to me, because i enjoy funny things and funny time with friends, and this was one of the first books, or anything really, that got me into comedy and made me enjoy humour. The papa bear also acts like my dad and I as well. We usually try to show people what to do in a situation, but somehow avoid safety and end up hurting ourselves. His clumsiness in the book is a reflection of that, so the book has a sort of special connection in that way as well.

I'm not entirely sure of the message from this book, or even any meanings, but it does teach you lessons in learning the rules and being safe in the ocean. It tells you about the fun to be had on a summer vacation and what to avoid. In a way, the message could be to make sure you remember your own rules and follow them yourself before you try to teach someone else the same rules. The book seems to be created to have a laugh, which is also in the way the pictures correspond with the words. The pictures tell the story of what is about to happen and thats what gives us the humerous affect on the story. By using this, it is very easy to keep a young child to be entertained in the book, and making them want to finish it and find out what silly thing will happen next to papa bear.

The visuals in the book are illustrated in great detail, showing many humerous facial expressions and reactions. The visual can also allow you to see a movie build in your head, and let your own imagination run wild to fill in the parts in between. The language is extremely easy to follow and can help young readers and children to broaden their range of vocabulary. I'm not entirely sure of what the meaning is on the book, but the words paint the pitcure that is illustrated right in front of the reader, and having those two things combined together works well for this book and gives it the humour that young readers love.

Hope you enjoy it :)