Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Reading, lately

This turned up in the mail, an unexpected gift from my mom.

comfort reading
{comfort reading}

My childhood copy had been tattered and torn to bits, eventually losing several chapters. The Teddy Bear Habit is one of those random gems of young adult literature. Set in Greenwich in the 60s and full of slang, cultural references and foot chases across Manhattan, it's far more hilarious than I realized as a kid. 

Sadly, it isn't widely available. It was briefly re-issued in 2001, and luckily there are still a few of those editions floating around (like the one pictured here). The paperback 70s edition had fabulous sketched illustrations, but it seems impossible to find.

13 comments:

  1. I love rereading books from my younger years. I do that with A Wrinkle in Time every few years...it's one of my favorites.

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  2. I've never heard of this book, but I love most young adult novels, so I'll have to check this out!

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  3. Never read it. Mom's are so great like that. You'll cherish that copy forever!

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  4. nothing like a comfort read. or a mom.

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  5. mom's always know just when we need something like that.

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  6. I really liked reading If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Maybe that's why I've always thought mice were adorable... and love cookies, of course :)
    Bisous,
    Rachel
    lovealamode.wordpress.com

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  7. I know the feeling! My favorite book growing up was "The Bronze Bow". I've been looking for a copy with the original cover (like the library edition I originally read) for 5 years! I even ordered one that came with the wrong cover ... again. But they make great gifts for my friends who don't know how important the *right* cover is. :)

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  8. hmm. could the seventies edition be the 1981 trade paperback edition? it seems like alibris might have a couple.

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  9. ...and there i go, not fully reading my whole linked text. there's a '75 dell edition there, too!

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  10. I've never heard of that book. It sounds worth checking out :)

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  11. One 1970 version available on abebooks!
    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=Teddy+Bear+Habit&x=55&y=10&yrh=1979&yrl=1970

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  12. @ lauren @ s. - you guys are much better searchers than me! It kills me that they don't always show you the cover images, but the Dell Yearling 1970 appears to be the exact one I had! Lorenz was the illustrator.

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  13. I've never heard of that one, but I immediately added it to my TBR list. I do love re-reading childhood favorites, like The Westing Game and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. It's some how comforting.

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