CindyJean's Full Review: Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain - The Berenstai...
Introduction
I was wandering around Wal-Mart one day, as I so often do. I mean, I go in there with a mission but always end up wandering each and every aisle and buying at least an item or two that I didn’t plan on.
On this particular day I happened to be looking through the book section when I noticed the book “The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight.”
My two oldest boys (3 ½ and 5 ½) had been bickering a lot, and it was really wearing on me. When I saw this book I thought it would be perfect for them!
Nuts & Bolts
I purchased the paperback edition of this book, which measures approximately eight inches square.
With 32 pages, it is a fairly long read for younger kids.
This book is published by Random House, Inc. and is a labeled as A First Time Book.
The copyright date for this book is 1982.
Authors/Illustrators
This book is a joint effort by Stan and Jan Berenstain, hence the name Berenstain Bears.
The Berenstains have written and illustrated many, many books together and are most well known for this famous bear family.
The Story
The book starts out by describing how life normally begins in the Bear’s home.
With birds singing outside their window, Brother and Sister Bear wake up and start their day in a very loving manner. They take turns in the bathroom, are polite to each other at the breakfast table, sit together on the school bus, and work on the tree house in their backyard in a very cooperative manner.
(Okay, so it’s not the most realistic scenario ever written.)
One morning things are not quite as harmonious in Bear Country as they normally are. When Sister Bear awoke and stretched, she let her feet dangle over the side of the bunk beds she shares with her brother. Sister has the upper bunk, obviously.
Brother Bear takes offense to this and makes a rude comment to sister, and the fight is on.
On this morning, Sister rushes into the bathroom ahead of brother and takes a long time intentionally.
The children aren’t polite to each other at breakfast because they aren’t even speaking to each other.
Sit together on the bus? Forget about it! Sister sits up front and Brother Bear opts for a seat in the rear.
When they got home from school, even working on their tree house wasn’t enough to elicit cooperation from the sibling bears.
Brother and Sister continue to argue and bicker until they finally drive Papa Bear to his breaking point. So as Brother and Sister are shouting at each other, Papa Bear joins in the fracas shouting at the cubs to quit shouting!
Mama Bear, who has had more than enough of the shouting, whistles loudly enough to stop everyone in his or her tracks.
Mama Bear has a talk with her cubs about how everyone gets into arguments sometimes, even those who love each other dearly. She tells them that sometimes people get angry and say things they really don’t mean, but eventually the anger goes away and the fight is over.
They liken fighting to a storm, and making up is like the end of the storm when the rain goes away and the sun comes back out.
My Thoughts
I didn’t find the opening scenario of Brother and Sister Bear never fighting to be very realistic. Then again, it really isn’t intended to be realistic. The Berenstain Bears, like most fictional families, are idealized to show what we wish our families were like.
I found the fighting and argumentative siblings to be much more realistic, and very relatable for my sons.
My sons were particularly amused by Sister Bear putting her “bear” feet (yes, the pun was intended) in Brother’s face. Things like feet in faces are particularly amusing to young children!
I liked the fact that the book didn’t try to make kids feel bad for fighting with each other, that fighting is just a normal part of life. Instead it emphasized getting over the fighting and that even though you fight with someone you still love them.
I thought the message of this book was a good lesson for my sons, and they seemed to understand what the book was saying.
Recommendation
I would highly recommend this book for parents with children in the 3-8 age range who are having a tough time getting along.
It is a cute story with wonderful illustrations that children can learn from. What more could a parent want?
The usually compatible Brother and Sister Bear are fighting--all day long! Mama Bear helps them realize that everyone argues once in a while, even wit...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
The usually compatible Brother and Sister Bear are fighting--all day long! Mama Bear helps them realize that everyone argues once in a while, even wit...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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