There are only 24 words in this book and a whole series of great pictures, which as it says on the back cover will "help even babies make the important connection between word and meaning". Every evening for the past week, at about 7pm I have been gathering evidence that this is indeed the case. When I was small, my Dad read me this story. Probably my Mum read it to me too, but Dad was best. (Mum was best for other books). It was a bedtime story, and I can still recall the tensions and excitement created by these few words and pictures as the story was read to me, though I must have been a few years older than Baby CrazyEgg is now. Because I have always remembered this particular story when I saw it for sale when I was about 20 I bought it. And it has stayed pristine and treasured until this week, when I thought, "I wonder if Baby CrazyEgg would enjoy Bears in the Night?"

On the first reading there was not much interest initially: we were both sat on the floor of her room prior to starting the last tube-feed of the day, and she was trying to stick her head in a plastic tub that she had just emptied of cotton wool balls. I was trying to get her to sit still so that we could start the feed. As we progressed through the story she did sit still, and looked at the pictures as we went through.

The second night she was interested from the first. Every page was accompanied by a noise: of interest, then glee, then anticipation. The bears in the story have a bit of an adventure. They hear a strange noise in the night and go to investigate. When we got to the page before the great discovery, Baby CrazyEgg became very excited, clapping her hands and saying "Gnneeerr, Gneeerr". When I turned the page, she said "AAAAAH!" and began bouncing up and down. The next page has to be read really quickly, and this caused the bouncing to continue, but after their adventure the Bears all get safely back into bed, so the tempo slows and with it Baby CrazyEgg's mood. When we ended the book she gave a very contented "Oomph!" sound. And then, "Aa-ge! A-ge", which, as I have said before, means, "Again."

The third night I tried to read a different book, but Baby CrazyEgg used her new crawling and pointing skills to let me know I was trying to read the wrong book. Since then we have read it every night, and she continues to enjoy it though is rather impatient and grabs the book to hurry me up to get to the scary page. She likes to turn the pages and look very hard at the pictures. It is a shame that, so far as I know, this book is not available as a board book, because it is now very creased and battered. Such enthusiasm seems to me to be an excellent indicator that this book really hits the spot for even very young children, Baby CrazyEgg being nearly 17 months (14 months corrected).

First published in Britain in 1972, Bears in the Night is written by Stan and Jan Berenstain and their editor was Dr Seuss of 'Cat in the Hat' fame. It is part of a series of books about the bears that Dr Seuss named the Berenstain Bears, but I am pretty sure none can be as exciting as this one. I would ask baby CrazyEgg her view, but she is all tucked up in bed, like the bears at the end of the story.

©CrazyEgg 2012