Amy the Dancing Bear

This was one of my favorite books as a kid. It is written by Carly Simon and reads just like a song or lullaby. The images are beautiful and full of detail. As a kid I loved Amy the dancing bear because she reminded me of myself. I was always full of energy and never wanted to go to bed. 

This book is about a little dancing bear, Amy, who doesn't want to go to sleep because she is having so much fun dancing. She talks her mother into letting her stay up late into the night to keep on dancing her heart away. Finally, when it gets to be midnight, Amy puts her mom to bed.

I can still remember how, as a kid, staying up late was such a big deal. It was so exciting to stay up later than the parents and also terrifying if you got caught. I still remember how I was at my grandparents house with my cousins and we were staying up way later than we should have in the upstairs bed room. For some reason, we needed some ice, so I snuck down to the kitchen to get some and ran into my grandma in the kitchen. I completely froze with fear and could not open my mouth. I pretended to be sleep walking and stumbled back up stairs. The next day my grandma mentioned it, and I completely denied having any recollection of the incident. Now, I think it is funny that I was so afraid to be caught staying up late.

This would be a cute book to read to kids, but I might not read it in my classroom but save it as a book to read to my kids, since it is a little less educational and just pure fun.