the teddy bears' picnic

It's been a while since I've had anything fun to talk about (book wise) on the blog lately. Most of the books I'm currently listing for my database are books that have stuck around in boxes for a while (from two months to five years depending on the box....) so to me they are old hat.  Not that they are bad books, on the contrary. But for some reason or other, I would pull them out of a box to list, look at them and just not be interested in them.... so back into the box they went. 

The thing is, I'm currently trying to whittle down the backlog of boxes ... and at the same time conserve funds for the possibility of exciting new books that might come along and need real cash to pay for them.

It hasn't happened lately, but at least I can keep my hopes up.

The other day, while I was scanning the shelves of the one place I went to this week (because of the backlog of books, and because my schedule currently is CRAZY... I've pared down the time I allow myself to spend haunting my usual book finding spots.  At some point, if I DON'T get to go out book hunting, I'll probably burst into a thousand quivering bits).  So ANYWAY.... I went.  I found .... not much.  Some books on Fly fishing - which isn't my personal interest - but books that are good enough to fish out of the pile of dreck before they were totally destroyed.  If I get a chance this week, they'll go up as a group item to someone who DOES like fly fishing.   I was sad and disappointed that I'd wasted gas and time at this place.... but.... on the way out, I looked down (it's always down, or sideways, or some other way than right in front of your nose, isn't it?) and there was this one book sticking out of a pile of Children's paperback junk that caught my eye.

And....

It was The Teddy Bear's Picnic.

This is a wonderful book for several reasons.  One, it's the whole idea of the Teddy Bears' Picnic.
And then, the book comes with a 33 1/3rd record at the back (this one is in nice condition too) with the SONG  The Teddy Bears' Picnic  -- there is a great write-up of the original Teddy Bear inventor and the whole bear / picnic thing here,    has two versions of the song - first by Bing Crosby, the second by The Bearcats.

This copy, which was published by the Green Tiger Press (under their Star and Elephant logo) includes illustrations by Alexandra Day ( and there's another story there...   Alexandra Day is the pseudonym of Sandra Louise Woodward Darling, who with her husband Harold established Green Tiger Press in 1970. This particular book -- The Teddy Bears' Picnic was Darling's first published book illustration as Alexandra Day (she went on to conceive and illustrate the Good Dog Carl books).


It's a cool book with wonderful illustrations and a catchy tune to play with it.  All you need is a bunch of finger sandwiches, a young person to take to the park with you and a record player...