Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday-Sometimes when it’s all about you, it can overwhelm you!
Written: May 18 '08
Product Rating:
Pros: Teaches a lesson that too much, even of your party, can be a bad thing!
Cons: Nothing. Excellent book, artwork, and lesson!
The Bottom Line: The Berenstain Bears touch on many subjects that parents face with their children over time. It helps children realize it's ok when they feel overwhelmed and how to handle it!
Magick1's Full Review: Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain - The Berenstai...
Celebrating a birthday is an important thing, especially when you are little. The toddlers and the preschool age start counting down to their next birthday almost as soon as they finish celebrating their current birthday.
Imagine that being older is the biggest and best thing in the world. You just cannot wait until you are 5 to start school, 14 to start driving a car with a parent or guardian, 16 to possibly drive by yourself, and 17 or 18 when you graduate high school. There are many other monumental points in your life that you “can’t wait until you are xx”. When you get past 21, then, it’s the pivotal decades 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, etc. But, over 21, you don’t anticipate the “next birthday” as much. You know it will happen, but you don’t say that you are 38 years old and almost 39 (at least 11 months prior to the date).
The Story
Sister bear was going to be turning 6 soon. Papa bear, sister bear and brother bear were in the forest cutting down a tree to prepare for winter. When the tree was down, sister noticed the rings in the stump. Asking about those rings, she was told that this was how you tell how old a tree was. The tree’s rings brought about a conversation about age and differences between trees and people. Sister wondered if people (or bears) have annual rings. Papa bear advised that bears do not have annual rings, but they have birthdays and birthday parties!
Papa bear mentioned that sister bear would be having a birthday party pretty soon too! She was not aware that they were going to have a party. But, papa’s excitement about a party, mentioning all of the trimmings and listing off the trimmings: cake, ice cream, decorations, favors, and games, even brother was excited sister was going to have a party.
Mama bear thought a nice, quiet family party would be a good idea. Soon, she was wrapped up in the birthday party excitement and as they said in the book, the guest list kept getting bigger, the cake kept getting grander and bigger and the party goods and goodies piled up.
Papa bear was so taken up in the spirit of a big party, he sneakily ordered something for his daughter’s party and did not tell mama bear until the party surprises showed up outside as the party was about to begin!
The party goers were having a blast. There was a quick game of Going to Jerusalem (a version of musical chairs, but a slight twist with it as the one caught on the carpet was out when the music stopped). They had a spin the bottle game, but sister, when caught, was too shy to kiss any of the other guests, so she planted one on her brother. Some made fun of her for that. There were other games and the surprises that papa bear had come to the party. Sister wasn’t feeling the best. Too much of the party goodies, the fun and games and when it was time to bring out the cake and everyone was singing Happy Birthday, she was just overwhelmed. Everything started to melt down with sister and she was not happy at all.
The party was going to be quickly over and mama, papa and brother bear helped get sister back into family mode. Things quieted down, sister understood what mama originally meant by “too much birthday” when they were originally trying to talk mama bear into the big birthday bash in the beginning.
Overall Impressions
My daughter recently had a birthday herself and she finds this one kind of a funny story. She had her first birthday party (ones with invited guests and not just immediately family, anyway) and she cannot understand what too much birthday means. She laughs at the silly drawings and the funny happenings in this book and asks why sister was so upset about things.
When I point out some of the things that happen in the story, she understands. Now, she will comment on the situations that made sister sad and upset in the book as we are reading. My daughter seems to truly understand why there were too many things happening in the story. She tells me that she is glad that she had the party that she did so that she did not get upset like sister bear did in the story!
We talk about the things that we read and I believe that my daughter really grasps the concept of the story. That, to me, says a lot. All of the Berenstain Bear books my daughter seems to really understand and really take in, unlike other books that we read. I am pleased to have this one in her book collection as we really dug it out in the past couple of months (1 leading up to my daughter’s birthday and the 1 after her birthday). If you have a birthday coming up in your house and you have a preschooler, I believe this is a very good book to put in your collection or check out in the local library! Enjoy it!
Is there such a thing as too much birthday? Poor Sister is overwhelmed by her big, noisy sixth-birthday party. Her sympathetic parents help her realiz...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Is there such a thing as too much birthday? Poor Sister is overwhelmed by her big, noisy sixth-birthday party. Her sympathetic parents help her realiz...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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