by Jim Aylesworth
Illustrated by JoEllen McAllister-Stammen
(Atheneum, 1997)
Aylesworth's book reverses the usual story plot about a child who is afraid of things in the night. In this tale it is the child's teddy bears who have frightful things keeping them afraid in the night. As the boy consoles them he is consoling himself. Another book with a reverse situation is Robert Crowe's Clyde Monster (Dutton, 1978). Compare and contrast the situations in the two books.
Hold a B.Y.O.B day (Bring Your Own Bear) -- Teddy Bear day. Children bring their teddy bears and read books about bears all day long including A.A. Milne's Pooh tales, Frank Asch's books about bear, and those of Else Minarik, Jane Hissey, Bernard Waber (Ira Sleeps Over [Houghton Mifflin, 1975]), and the Corduroy books by Don Freeman.
