The Teddy Bear Picnic

Book Three from the Series THE THREE LITTLE LIBRARIANS AND THE BIG, BAD BROTHER
Copyright October 2008


[Part 2]

“These books really looked American for today,” said Donna, holding up the title book of the Cherokee Rose series.  Mrs. Cloar agreed.  Abby breathed a sigh of relief as Avery disappeared into the church, but groaned again when he reappeared, leading Anna, their baby sister.  Abby had wanted to have a nice, quiet picnic without worrying about her siblings, but now they both were joining her.  Anna sat down by Abby and held onto the Teddy Bear Abby had dressed up to bring today.  Abby was going to tell the story of Paddington Bear and the importance of his raincoat.

Last to arrive was Mrs. Cloar’s younger daughter, Erin, who hadn’t been out of college very long, but who had been away two years teaching high school in Hawaii.  Erin brought a large map of Hawaii attached to a tall art tripod, which she placed close to the quilts in the grass as the boys and girls sat down.  She made them all laugh when she told about her first Teddy Bear Picnic on that hill.  She had been five years old and had just sampled a few days of kindergarten.  She had come running up to her mother with a tadpole that had washed up on the shore of the pond. 

“Mom,” I found a lower case frog!” she had said.  Mrs. Cloar laughed until her eyes watered when she remembered it.

Erin told about Hawaii being the fiftieth state, about the sea turtles she loved to see in the water there, and about King Kame-ha-me-ha (teaching the children how to say his name just right).  She also told about a President of the United States who had loved wildlife, Teddy Roosevelt, and about how the Teddy Bear was named for him.  She was just finishing the part of the story that included Koala bears when Zach arrived.

“A picnic!”  Zach yelled.  Then, as he got closer, “a Teddy Bear Picnic!”  Zach was visiting with his grandmother, Nancy, the church pianist, this week and was very excited to see the gathering.  When the others yelled back for him to join them, he said, “Wait a minute.  I’ll be right back!”

(The Three Little Librarians and the Big, Bad Brother is a fictional book based on true events and real characters.)