bilbopooh's Full Review: Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain - The Berenstai...
In The Berenstain Bears Hug and Make Up, everyone in the Bear family is unusually cranky, and none of them is quite sure why. One thing leads to another, and before the day is out, Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister Bear are all furious with each other until they take a moment to clear the air and realize that whatever set them off in the first place is not worth spending the whole day angry. That book was published within the last few years, but the idea of loved ones' insignificant squabbles turning into explosive arguments isn't anything new for the Berenstains. They covered almost exactly the same territory in The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, published 26 years ago.
In this case, the focus is entirely on Brother and Sister, who usually get along but on this particular day can't stand each other. They shout at each other upon awaking. They bicker over the bathroom, sit at opposite ends of the school bus, divide the tree house they're building into halves, take back the toys they let each other borrow. They mean business, and it's enough to drive their parents to distraction. Brother and Sister are usually quite congenial playmates. What will it take to get them to be like that again?
Why, a lecture from Mama, of course! Not to mention an extremely timely thunderstorm that serves as the perfect metaphor for the siblings' ferocious argument. I have two younger brothers, so this story rings quite true for me. My brother Benjamin and I quarreled constantly, but we also had a lot of fun together. It's important not to lose sight of those good times in the midst of explosive disagreements.
There's something about the older Berenstain Bears books that I prefer, even the ones that aren't rhyming accounts of Papa's silly shenanigans. There's a simplicity to the artwork that I find appealing, and some of the details are great fun. My favorite random object in this book is the kitschy owl lamp in the Bears' living room. I also love the tree house, which has a domed roof, as opposed to the flat or slanted roofs seen on most tree houses. The roof seems a little low for the cubs, but maybe they're planning on setting one part of the tree house aside for storage or some such purpose. At any rate, I like the fact that they're building it together, instead of it just being Brother's project.
This is a story that is at once funny, distressing and encouraging. It's easy to laugh about childish arguments in retrospect, but at the time they really aren't much fun. The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight acknowledges the fact that such fights will probably happen now and then but encourages children to resolve bad feelings toward each other quickly. It's too much fun being siblings to waste all your time squabbling.
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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