One of my favorite books to read to Parker is Bear Snores On, because I love the way the words flow and the phrase “…and the bear snores on” repeats. So when I was browsing online and found that there were other books in this series, I got really excited.
I was in search of a Thanksgiving-related book to use in our early childhood music classes, and Bear Says Thanks was the perfect choice. It’s a little bit longer than our usual singable stories, but the repetition makes it easy for everyone to join in. The illustrations are lovely and the hard copy version is nice and big.
The tune I came up with is a mash-up of “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” and “Turkey in the Straw” — kind of random, I know, but that’s what came out when I first tried setting the words to music :) I like using familiar melodies for singable stories, because they are easier to remember.
There are a few other books I love to pull out at Thanksgiving time (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie and Ten Fat Turkeys are favorites) but this one is currently at the top of my list.