BIG BIRD: Hi.
This is my friend, Mrs. Bush.
BARBARA BUSH: Hello.
Nice to see you again, Big Bird.
BIG BIRD: Oh, it's nice to see you too.
Mrs. Bush is here today to read us a storybook I borrowed
from the Sesame Street Library.
It's called Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats.
Right?
BARBARA BUSH: That's right.
I have it right here.
COUNT VON COUNT: Oh, wonderful.
I love reading.
BIG BIRD: Oh, wait a minute, Count.
You do?
I thought you only liked counting.
COUNT VON COUNT: Oh, no.
I love reading too.
I love books.
You love books, too, don't you, Mrs. Bush?
BARBARA BUSH: You bet, very much.
COUNT VON COUNT: Oh, ho.
Yes.
Would you like to know what kind of books I like
to read, Mrs. Bush?
BARBARA BUSH: Yes, I really would.
COUNT VON COUNT: Good.
I like storybooks.
That's one.
I like picture books.
That's two.
I like mystery books.
That's three.
And I like adventures.
That's four.
And I like funny books.
That's five.
[THUNDER]
BIG BIRD: Count, Count, you know, I don't think we have
time to count all the kinds of books you like.
We want to hear the story Mrs. Bush is going to read to us.
COUNT VON COUNT: Oh, of course.
I want to hear that story too.
Please go right ahead, Mrs. Bush.
And do you mind if I count the pages as you read them?
BARBARA BUSH: Not at all.
Be my guest.
COUNT VON COUNT: Oh, you're too kind.
Thank you.
BARBARA BUSH: Peter's Chair.
Ezra Jack Keats wrote this book.
Peter stretched as high as he could.
There!
His tall building was finished.
Are you looking at the pictures?
Crash!
Down it came.
"Shhhh," called his mother.
"You have to play more quietly.
Remember, we have a new baby in the house." Peter looked
into his sister Susie's room.
His mother was fussing around the cradle.
"That's my cradle," he thought.
"They painted it pink!
"Hi, Peter," said his father.
"Would you like to help me paint Sister's high chair?"
"It's my high chair," whispered Peter.
He saw his crib and muttered, "My crib." It's painted pink
too." Not far away stood his old chair.
"They didn't paint that yet!" Peter shouted.
He picked it up and he ran to his room.
"Let's run away, Willie," he said.
Peter filled a shopping bag with cookies and dog biscuits.
"We'll take my blue chair, my toy crocodile, and the picture
of me when I was the baby." Willie got his bone.
They went outside and stood in front of his house.
"This is a good place," said Peter.
He arranged his things very nicely, and he decided to sit
on his chair for a while.
What do you think happened?
He couldn't fit in the chair.
He was too--
CHILDREN: big!
BARBARA BUSH: Big, that's right.
BIG BIRD: I know about that, too big.
BARBARA BUSH: His mother came to the window and called,
"Won't you come back to us, Peter dear?
We have something very special for lunch." Peter and Willie
made believe they didn't hear.
But Peter got an idea.
Soon his mother saw signs that Peter was home.
"That rascal was hiding behind the
curtain," she said happily.
Oh!
She moved the curtain away, but what?
He wasn't there.
"Here I am," shouted Peter.
He surprised his mother.
Peter sat in a grownup chair.
His father sat next to him.
"Daddy," said Peter, "let's paint the little chair pink
for Susie."
Isn't that a nice story?
BIG BIRD: It is.
BARBARA BUSH: And they did.
Did you like that story?
CHILDREN: Yes.
BOY: Baby got it all over his clothes.
BARBARA BUSH: Well, that's the fun of
painting, don't you think?
COUNT VON COUNT: And that's 15.
15 wondeful storybook pages.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
I loved it.
BARBARA BUSH: Me, too.