Little David Sings for the King. Let the Bible Be Your Guide. The Princess Twins and the Birthday Party. The Legends of Christmas Treasury.
The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule. The Berenstain Bears Learn to Share. The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree. The Berenstain Bears Hurry to Help. The Trouble with Secrets. The Berenstain Bears Reap the Harvest. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long.
At Kobo, we try to ensure that published reviews do not contain rude or profane language, spoilers, or any of our reviewer's personal information. You submitted the following rating and review. We'll publish them on our site once we've reviewed them. Item s unavailable for purchase. Please review your cart. You can remove the unavailable item s now or we'll automatically remove it at Checkout. Continue shopping Checkout Continue shopping. Chi ama i libri sceglie Kobo e inMondadori. Preview saved Save Preview View Synopsis. Papa believes that Mama is over-protective about the cubs' behavior because he believes that Brother and Sister are good cubs, but when Brother and Sister find the toys they saw on television commercials it makes them forget the true meaning of Christmas.
Sister Bear becomes more excited about getting to meet Santa Bear , but makes a long list of things she wanted for Christmas. Brother warns her that she's getting greedy; he also tells her that Santa has lots of cubs to think about besides Sister, all the cubs in the world, and she becomes nervous.
Sister becomes really nervous as to whether or not she's been good enough for Santa's expectations, recalling incidents from previous books. Mama Bear and Papa Bear assure her that she doesn't have to worry, as Santa Bear doesn't expect cubs to be perfect. Sister remembers the true meaning of Christmas and doesn't know how Mama and Papa will get their gifts without meeting Santa Bear, but Brother tells her that presents for Mama and Papa was their job and they secretly get money for Christmas shopping the next day.
The next day, as Sister Bear visits Santa Bear, he gives her a coloring book, after she told him what she wanted for Christmas and gave him her list, which is a shorter one that she made. Sister and Brother purchase Mama and Papa great gifts afterwards. Papa tells her that the true meaning of Christmas is giving, and that Santa has an important job.
The next day, she and Brother find the things they wanted for Christmas along with Papa and Mama. Mama notices that her cubs' junk food snacking habits have caught up with them. Papa Bear has also fallen into the bad snack habit as well. Mama Bear decides to put all the sweets and junk food in the freezer, and start her family on a healthy diet. At the grocery store, The Bear family runs into their family doctor, Dr. Grizzly, who commends Mama for a shopping cart full of healthy food but also notices Papa and cubs staring longingly at the candy, so she suggests they drop by her office for some advice.
The cubs are initially worried about getting shots, but soon find out she has a presentation about healthy eating habits, specifically how fruits, vegetables, and grains affect the body's performance. As the family leaves, Mama Bear suggests an exercise plan as well. The family begins their healthy eating and exercise. Eventually, they all get into shape and decide to enter the Bear Country three-mile run. While they didn't finish first, they won a trophy for being the only family where all members completed the run. Papa Bear suggests they open the freezer to celebrate, but decides on the others' suggestions of carrot sticks, nuts and raisins for a snack.
The family decides to take their annual family vacation out of the valley. As their vacation, Papa reads a brochure for a cabin in the mountains, near a lake, and they decide to rent the lodge for their vacation. When they begin their drive up to the mountains, Papa, Mama, Sister, and Brother begin looking forward to fishing for fish, canoeing, and cooking up Papa's home-made stew which tastes terrible , but Mama senses the possibility of disaster and packs packaged food just in case.
When the family reaches the lodge they realize it is a smelly, rusty, mosquito-filled cabin that has a mess of leaves inside, with no electricity, a terrible worn-down fireplace, and with leaky ceilings. To make things worse, the lake is polluted, murky, and dirty, and the wilderness vegetation tastes terribly in Papa's attempted stew. They try to make the best of the vacation, but after only a couple days of living in the cabin and after a rest-less night due to a rainstorm which leaked into their house, causing a mass flood that throws Papa into a mud puddle , Papa and the family has had enough and decides to go home.
Luckily however, they took hilarious pictures during their vacation of their misadventures and in later years, as they reminiscence on their "worst vacation ever", they come to find laughter and humor in their pictures. Brother is very cautious and wary of strangers while Sister happily greets everyone and everything she meets. Papa also reads her a story about a sly fox who pretends to be a goose's friend when he invites her over to his den, but eats her in the end in order to tell her why she shouldn't talk to strangers or accept gifts and rides from them.
The story only serve to frighten Sister. Unable to sleep, the headlines from the newspaper and parts of the "Silly Goose and Wily Fox" story flash through Sister's head. The next day, Sister has an askew view that anyone she does not know is a stranger, and as such an automatic criminal.
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Seeing the effect Papa's lesson had on Sister, Mama Bear explains that not every stranger is an immediate kidnapper and relates a lesson she was taught when she was young: Sister picks up an apple that is bumpy on the outside thinking it is a "bad apple" while on the inside it is fine. Mama shows an apple with a normal external appearance but inside it is infested with worms.
Sister understands the difference and realizes she can still be friendly but must use her common sense when it comes to people she doesn't know. She feels better and goes with Brother to the town green as he launches his pusher plane. Sister relaxes and enjoys looking for wildflowers. Just as they are about to go home, an unknown bear drives up with a radio-controlled plane that grabs Brother's attention. The stranger tells Brother he plans on following his plane in his car and invites Brother to come along.
Sister intervenes, stopping him from accepting the offer. Brother is annoyed and believes Sister has become too paranoid about strangers then is further angered when Papa, a big grouchy grump, scolds him. Papa explains that Sister was not tattling about something minor, but a situation that could have been very dangerous.
After calming down, Brother thanks Sister for looking out for him. Sister asks Mama if the stranger who owned the radio airplane was a crook, Mama replies that chances are he was law-abiding and probably not a "bad apple". The family has gotten into a habit of forgetting their manners, being rude, and impolite, frustrating Mama. It starts out with simple issues, such as not using "please" or "thank you", then escalating into pushing and shoving, then being rude at meals, and making messes with food fights.
Mama is at the end of her rope, and she even feels Papa is part of the problem as he corrects the cubs by shouting and banging his fist. Mama devises a politeness plan, which lists a series of impolite behaviors that gets punished by an extra chore. Brother and Sister decide to come up with a plan of their own by being super polite, hoping that Mama will get fed up with the whole thing, but this fails, and the cubs soon are in a habit of simply being courteous to one another. However, Papa is the one who gets fed up; as he is older and more used to his habits, he has to do many chores to break his habit, causing him to grouse about Mama's plan.
One day, the family is out shopping, to which Papa says he is glad to be out of the house "and away from that Politeness Plan", but Mama says that manners matter in public as well. While at the supermarket, Papa points out that one must also have common sense along with manners, such as letting everyone go ahead of you in line means you will be held up for a very long time; he also adds that there may be certain times when one has to interrupt.
He sees a lady with a broken bottle and politely interrupts her in order to bring it to her attention and keep her groceries from being spoiled, and she thanks Papa. While returning home, the Bears' car rear ends another car, which is owned by a big bear, who is at first angry with Papa; however, he is suddenly reminded of his own manners when seeing how polite Papa is. He then explains that he had stopped short because a mama duck and her ducklings had crossed in front of him. Fortunately, neither car was damaged. As the Bears return home, they reflect how good manners not only make life easier to live by, but more relaxing.
Mama and Papa get notice of a meeting at a town hall, which presents a problem as the cubs cannot be unattended. So they see about the usual deal of staying with Gramps and Gran as they have done before. The problem is, Gramps and Gran also are going to the meeting, as are other family members, Aunt Maude, and Cousin Wilbur.
Mama finds someone not attending the meeting, a neighbor named Mrs. Brother and Sister have never had anyone outside the family stay with them, and shudder as Mrs. Grizzle has the reputation amongst all their friends as the neighborhood grouch; Brother recalling a time his kite accidentally bopped her and Sister trampling her flower garden when she had been playing ball. Also, her size is imposing as a large woman; only Papa Bear is taller than Mrs. The cubs fear she will be dictatorial and kid-hating, but Mama says that is ludicrous, Mrs.
Grizzle raised seven cubs of her own and knows how to handle cubs. Sister accepts this, but Brother resolves to himself he will keep away from the sitter. Grizzle arrives at the Bear residence in a jolly mood, and shows the cubs her work bag, which she uses whenever she had a babysitting job. Inside the bag are some odds and ends such as ball of twine and deck of cards; then she does a couple of tricks and plays some card games with them.
When bedtime rolls around, Mrs. Grizzle helps the cubs scrub their backs in the bathtub Brother Bear changing his mind about staying away from the sitter , she tucks them in bed and reads Sister a bedtime story. When Mama and Papa arrive home, they are glad to see a peaceful home and the cubs asleep. Eventually the cubs come to like Mrs.
Grizzle, and say that although there were future times Mama and Papa went off from home, that Mrs. Grizzle was the memorable time they were home with a sitter. When trying to decide where to set it up, however, they all show disrespect to each other. When Papa suggests hosting it in a site, he and his friends did when they were cubs. Brother's opinion is "That was so years ago After discussing it, everybody apologizes to one another and ultimately decide to picnic at Gramps and Gran's house. Mama gets very frustrated because the cubs are performing awfully at chores. Every time Mama gives a simple task to the cubs or Papa, they always have excuses to not do them.
For example, when Mama asks Brother to clean the dishes he says "But there is a neat show on right now! Papa then suggests to Mama that they take a break off of the chores and not do it unless they feel like it. To show a point Mama agrees knowing that their antics will eventually cause the house to get messy.
This prediction comes true and while Mama goes to her quilting and gardening club, Papa, Sister and Brother get so exasperated that they spend one entire afternoon cleaning up the dirty, filthy crowded house. One day, while Mama, Papa, and Brother are busy, Sister comes home saying that a bully stole her jump rope. Brother decides to volunteer to get her rope back, and goes to the park where the bully, Too-Tall, and his gang, are playing. Brother comes and asks them for the jump rope, or else he will pound them to meat.
Glad that he got it back, Brother decides to head home. While he was going, Too-Tall and his gang tell Brother if they could go on a trip somewhere. Brother, who says no, is then teased by the gang who call him chicken. Saying that he is not chicken, Brother goes with the gang. They start going to a bunch of spots that scare Brother such as the Spooky Old Tree, a hike at the edge of a ravine, and a log over a rushing river.
They arrive at the final spot, Farmer Ben's watermelon patch. Too-Tall and his gang tell brother that they will steal some watermelon. Brother disagrees, only to be teased by the gang again. Angry, he goes and takes a juicy watermelon, while the gang watches. Farmer Ben comes and catches Brother, and the gang runs away. After the story, Farmer Ben says that "chickens aren't very smart, but they do know not to act when someone calls them chicken" referencing to Brother being called a chicken. Farmer Ben says that Shep his sheepdog will round them up.
He says that sheep will do anything the ram will do-run into a highway, jump off a cliff, or steal from a watermelon patch. Farmer Ben gives brother some watermelon to share with his family and a shortcut away from his farm.
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While Brother is walking home, Too-Tall and his gang see him. They ask him if he can go to "Widder Bruins" house and "have some fun", or is Brother chicken. Brother says he is not chicken, nor sheep to the gang, who angrily keep on teasing Brother. All of a sudden, Too-Tall's dad Two-Ton Grizzly comes and starts shouting at Too-Tall and his gang, telling their parents will hear from him if he hears more shenanigans. Brother leaves the argument and goes back home. Too-Tall and his gang, too, also go back home.
He gives Sister her jump rope back. Sister asks him how he got back the jump rope, which Brother replies he just asked the gang. Mama says that he literally got it just like that, which Brother replies " Well, not really". Sister gets invited to go to Lizzie Bruin's for a slumber party.
Before Sister leaves, Mama tells her that sleeping over at a friend's house is a special privilege which requires responsibility. However, word of the party spreads, and Lizzy allows everyone to come despite her parents leaving the cubs under the supervision of her teenage babysitter. The babysitter has trouble controlling all the cubs, especially once Too-Tall and his gang crash the party, and Sister and her friends are more than willing to take advantage of the situation and made such a commotion.
Soon, the sleepover causes havoc to the point that the neighbors call the police, and the Bruins return home and discover that everything is a mess. The Bruins call the cubs' parents to take them home and tell them about the disarray they discovered. Mama is angry and disappointed and grounds Sister for one day in her room, and one week in the house.
Papa, who believes the punishment is too harsh, tells Mama that Sister is partly to blame but admits that if they would have called Lizzy's parents, they would have known that they weren't planning on being home and that a slumber party was not OK that night. Papa reminds Mama that it's a privilege to have cubs and parents have a responsibility to check in on and oversee their cubs.
The next day, Mama Bear releases Sister of her punishment, admitting her anger got the best of her and what Papa said is true and, head over to Lizzy's to help clean up and claim some responsibility for the mess. Anna, Millie, and Queenie show up too and help clean up the mess. Lizzy suggests that they make it a clean up party but Sister says no and asks not to hear the word "party" for a very long time.
Brother and Sister feel that their parents have nothing to say but negative things about their cubs and criticize them. Mama finds out that the "Parents Night Talent Show" is next Friday, but the cubs forgot to give her the notice they brought home, which makes things worse. The play gently parodies their parents, with cousin Freddy and Lizzy Bruin as Brother and Sister of the play.
The comedy routine is a hit with the audience.
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Mama and Papa find it funny and enjoy the play. The next day, Mama and Papa Bear dress up as the cubs and do the same thing and show the cubs what they thought about it from their own point of view. Mama and Papa as the cubs run around rambunctiously, and Mama and Papa leave their cleaning objects and tools on the floors, which gets the cubs realizing that their parents enforcement of house rules serve a purpose. Seeing each other's perspective, this helps the family to understand and comprehend their frustrations a bit better, and learn that no one means to get on each other's nerves, as it is part of living under one roof.
An unoccupied house across from the Bears has just been sold, and the cubs are curious who bought it. One day, the new family arrives to the house and they are a family of pandas. However Papa has trouble adjusting to the family because they are different from him. When Papa misinterprets their row of bamboo as a spite fence , he refuses to do anything to the Panda family, not even say "hello" in passing.
Although Papa does not like the new neighbors, the cubs visit them anyway and they make friends with them. Later, the family, even Papa, comes over with a gift of honey to them, and when they learn that the bamboo is not a spite fence, Papa accepts the new neighbors. Even if others are different, we need to accept them and show love. They may even think you are different. Mama thinks about how Sister and Brother will come back with complaints about how they do not have the things their friends have. She says Sister complains about Lizzy's Bearbie collection, and Brother will complain that he doesn't have enough video games like Cousin Freddy.
When they come home, They start complaining to their parents again. Mama says she's heard enough. She tells them to think about what they have that their friends do not have. They count all their blessings and when they sit down together as a family, the lights go out. Brother and Sister hear a thunderstorm coming, which knocks out the power. Luckily, Papa knows how to make a warm fire and Mama knows how to make cocoa over the fire. Papa knows a trick that can make the thunderstorm go away.
They count each time and the storm is one mile away. After the thunderstorm, the cubs go upstairs to play with the toys they have, learning to be more appreciative of their possessions, and also are thankful for events such as Christmas and Easter which celebrate with candy. Mama says that since the cubs' birthdays are coming up and they have learned their lesson about being grateful for what they have, perhaps it is appropriate that they get Sister a Bearbie doll and Brother a new video game.
Papa chuckles that he knows what to thankful for; a wife and children! Mama and Papa Bear are stunned when they receive a letter from Brother Bear's teacher. When they go to confront him, they find him watching TV, and listening to a boom box. Brother complains that he's given too much homework and that's why he has fallen way behind at school. Papa finds out that his son hasn't been doing his homework on a daily basis. Until Brother gets caught up, Papa warns him that he will not watch television, play video games, listen to loud music or chat on the phone.
He gets upset and goes for a walk. He goes outside to Gramps and Gran's house, and they tell Brother the story of how Papa was falling behind his homework when he was a cub. In the end, Brother and Papa sit down at the table together to take care of their respective work for it was a good lesson for the both of them. Sister finds gym very boring, so when she sees Lizzie with an excuse note after hurting her arm, she decides Lizzie is lucky.
After school, while getting off the bus, Brother and Sister are running and Sister trips on a stone and falls. Papa and Mama rush to see if she is all right. She sprains her ankle and she gets an excuse note. At school, she enjoys sitting around doing nothing while the other cubs participate in gym. Eventually her ankle is all better, and one day at recess she forgets she is supposed to be injured and kicks a soccer ball that comes her way.
Teacher Jane notices and points out that her ankle must be all better now. Sister complains to Mama that now she has to participate in useless gym again, but Mama explains to her how gym is good as it helps keep her healthy and helps her improve in other things. Sister takes her advice and tries her hardest in gym, which in turn helps improves her athletic and sports abilities. One day, the Bear family goes to a supermarket to do some grocery shopping. It seems normal, that is until at the checkout, Brother and Sister see their favorite candies and make a fuss until Papa gives in to their behavior and buys them.
Mama tries her best to keep everything in order by not giving in, but Papa did not. On the way out to the parking lot, Brother and Sister spot a Bucking Frog similar to the Bucking Duck they ride at the mall. They begin to whine and beg, even worse than they did inside, and Papa gives in once again and buys them a ride.
En route to the car, the cubs spot a stand that sells toy cats that squeak. Mama and Papa try to stop them by saying "No", but it didn't work thus leaving Papa no choice but to give in to their demand and buy each of them a toy cat. When they got home, Papa and Mama are upset at how their cubs behaved, which made them think that they have the bad case of the gimmies, dispute that it was their fault for giving in. Following Mama's suggestion, Papa decides to set things straight by having a talk with them about how greedy and selfish cubs that want everything can never be satisfied because they can't always get what they want.
He also tells them to appreciate all that they have.
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Brother and Sister understand, but things get worse when Gramps and Gran come to visit, only for the cubs to greet them by jumping up and down and yelling, demanding gifts. Infuriated and fed up, Papa angrily sends the cubs to their room and tells them no more TV or treats for a week, a month, or possibly even a year. Mama and Papa explain to Gramps and Gran that Brother and Sister have the worst case of the gimmies, and the two grandbears did recall the time Papa had the gimmies once when he was a cub at Rufe Grizzly's General Store which was too downright embarrassing for them.
Lucky for him, Gramps and Gran state that they had a plan the next time they go out. Papa could pick out a treat, a book, or a toy before they ever left the house, and that was it for the day. If he came down with the gimmies and began whining for anything else, they would go right home and Papa would get nothing at all. Papa and Mama think that it is a good idea, and so do Brother and Sister.
They go to the supermarket for a few days later, and Brother and Sister get the treats they decided on at the house, Brother gets a book on dinosaurs and Sister gets a box of crayons. The plan works, much to Mama and Papa's relief and Brother and Sister are very proud of themselves, too. However, as they leave, the Bear family spots a cub who also has the gimmies in the checkout.
Brother and Sister express disgust with the cub's behavior, and they leave the supermarket happily, thus curing them of the gimmies. Brother teases Sister when she buys or watches things he doesn't like or hates every day. So one day Sister tells Mama about it. Mama and Papa tell Brother that teasing isn't a good idea. Papa shows Brother what teasing is like by calling Mama "Ookums Snookums" and tickling under her chin, which she doesn't like. At school, Brother gets a job working with the principal, and Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang tease Brother, giving him a taste of what it's like to get teased.
Milton's parents are farmhands, and this is his first time going to a community school. Part of the reason that Milton is a target is because he is very much like a "hayseed" who acts folksy and simplistic among others. He's also bad at sports like baseball and soccer. However, there is one sport Milton understands: Brother sends the principal a letter the next morning which secretly says that Milton challenges Too-Tall and his gang to a wrestling match.
Too-tall and his gang accept the challenge, and Milton wins by falling on Too-Tall and his gang. Because of Too-Tall's loss, he has to leave Milton alone. In the end, Brother doesn't tease Sister anymore. It is report card day and Brother has dreaded this day, because he knows he hasn't been doing well in school. Brother gets a bad report card, as his grades not related to Physical Education are very low. All of his classmates including Sister get good scores. After Papa furiously shouts at him for doing very poor in school, Brother ends up getting grounded from sports, television, video games, skateboarding, rollerblading, and going out to movies with his friends.
Mama comes to Brother's rescue and asks Papa to stop shouting, but agrees that the grounding must be done. Despite how much Mama consoles him, Brother remains depressed when a tear begins to fall down Brother's check. The whole family feels grounded after, since it would be unfair and a bad example if they do anything that Brother cannot do. Mama suggests that Papa went too far with grounding Brother, as she sees Sister being bored. After a talk on helping Brother, Mama and Papa decide to help him. Sister even joins, helping Brother with his vocabulary.
The next day, the whole family helps Brother study for a math test and do a science project. Brother does good on the project and test and comes home with two great grades, to be informed by Papa that he has been punished enough and that he will lift his grounding, on the condition that Brother agrees to never fall back again, which Brother agrees to.
When Brother and his friends used to play games, Sister would constantly tag along. She was slower than they were and had a tendency to whine, so all the older cubs viewed her as a nuisance. But as Sister gets older, she suddenly starts to become better than them at climbing, baseball, marbles, and other activities.
What's worse is the fact that Sister has also become a show-off and a bad winner with her obnoxious over-celebrating. One day, she can't find any of the other cubs to play with, so she decides to occupy herself instead. But after three days of no playmates, she goes looking for them and discovers they have built a neat-looking clubhouse in the thicket behind the baseball diamond that looks like a fortress. Her excitement turns to hurt feelings when the boy cubs add the finishing touch: Although Papa is initially furious and vows to make the cubs let her in the club, Mama suggests another solution: Papa builds it in the old climbing tree, and Sister and her friends bring a rope ladder, a tin can telephone, and a spyglass.
Mama explains to Sister that although the boys are being unfair and are sore losers, Sister had brought some of it on herself with her sore winner attitude. They celebrate the new clubhouse by grilling honeycomb and salmon, and the delicious smell brings the boys out of their clubhouse to investigate. The girls decide to invite the boys to share the meal, and afterwards, the boys invite the girls to their clubhouse in the thicket for a dessert of berries. Brother runs ahead, and when the girls arrive, they discover he's changed the sign to "Bear Country Boys Club: On the week near Halloween, Mama comes home with groceries, candy for trick-or-treaters.
Brother and Sister try to surprise Mama by dressing into their costumes, and they manage to do so. Then on Halloween when the cubs make a map of their planned trick or treat route, they reveal about how they believe that Mama's best friend, "Miz Migrizz", is a spooky, cruel, witch. Mama Bear tries to tell them that Miz Migrizz isn't a witch but fails to convince them. That night, Brother and Sister and their friends Fred as a pirate , Lizzy Bruin as a skeleton , and Queenie as the wicked queen from Snow White , go trick or treating but just when they leave the curb to their house they meet Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang.
They learn that Too-Tall and his gang have only accepted on going Trick-Or-Treating under a mistaken belief that it is more fun and is about playing mean harsh tricks on older people. The cubs are worried when Too-Tall gives them an invitation to play tricks with them on Miz Migrizz and just before Too-Tall and his gang can start tricking Migrizz she hears the commotion and catches them. But instead of scolding them she gives them candy apples for Halloween. The cubs realize that she is kind after all. They thank Migrizz and head for home.
Brother obsessively collects all of the Space Grizzlies merchandise from action figures to movies to toys. No one else in the Bear family understands why Brother is so drawn to the toys, mostly finding it annoying when he leaves them all over the treehouse. He loves the toys so much that he looks for ways to earn money to buy more of them, eventually to get Sleezo's Cloud Castle. After seeing a poster for an upcoming Space Grizzlies movie, he can't wait for it to premiere.
One afternoon, Brother desperately wants to play Space Grizzlies and propositions Sister. She agrees on the condition that Brother plays three games of her choice first. At dinner, Papa announces the movie Brother wants to see will be in theaters the next day. While Brother watches the Space Grizzlies movie, Mama and Papa and Sister see a different movie at the same multiplex called "The Magic Toeshoes", about a girl in a ballet class who cannot balance until she is given magic shoes by an old man, only to lose them before the big recital then to be told by the old man they were plain ordinary shoes, it was in her all along.
After coming home from the theater, and going to bed, Sister wakes up and tells Mama and Papa of being embarrassed in public. Mama tells her it was a bad dream; a nightmare. All the things she was seeing in her sleep were jumbled pieces of information she had experienced during her day. Sister accepts that all she had was a bad dream and that it couldn't hurt her.
Although Brother initially scoffs at her fear of bad dreams, that night he has a nightmare about being chased by enemies of the Space Grizzlies. Sister explains what she learned to him, and Brother better understands. The cubs know a lot about Bear Country, such as the best places for flowers, berries, and honey. However, they don't know a lot about money.
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Whenever they receive any money, either from doing odd jobs for neighbors or as handouts from Mama, Papa or their grandparents, they immediately run to the mall and blow it all on honeycomb on a stick and cheap toys. Attempts to save money in Sister's piggy bank are short-lived, and Brother does not even own a piggy bank.
Mama starts getting concerned about the cubs' attitude, and recommends putting them on an allowance to show the value of money. However, this idea is disapproved by Papa, who cheerfully suggests that this is the time to have a carefree childhood and that they will have plenty of money worries when they are grownup. However, Papa is the one to give the cubs a dressing down about squandering. One day, when Brother and Sister are at the mall, they see a new game called "Astro Bear" at the arcade and run home to ask for money for it. Papa explodes, asking if they think he's made of money or that money grows on trees, and knocking over a chair as he yells.
Mama once again attempts to bring up the allowance idea, but Papa refuses, saying that they need to learn to earn their money, just as he did. The cubs take what he says to heart and become small entrepreneurs, selling flowers and berries, guiding tours of Bear Country's most beautiful spots, and starting a pet-sitting business. But when they start selling maps of the locations of all the best honey trees a family secret , Papa begins to worry.
He complains that all they care about now is making money, and they've turned into little misers, which does seem to be apparent as Brother and Sister are seen accounting for all the money they made. He calls the cubs in for a lecture, but before he can begin, they dump all their hard-earned money into his lap, saying that they earned it all for him so he wouldn't have to worry about money so much. A startled Papa is silent, and Mama clarifies with the cubs that she and Papa worry about money, but the purpose of the earlier lecture was to see the importance of hard work and savings.
This time, Papa is the one who brings up the allowance idea. They take the cubs' money to the Bear Country Bank and open a savings account, explaining to the cubs about starting a nest egg and how interest works. The bank is inside the mall, and adjacent to the video arcade, so Papa feels that since the cubs have learned their lessons about squandering, the entire Bear family enjoys a round of Astro Bear.
When the cubs invite their friends over to their house, they don't know what to do until they ask Mama if they can have a party. Mama sarcastically says "No" at first, but then says, "Yes". Initially, the cubs try to make snacks, but end up making only their favorite foods: When the cubs express their beliefs that their friends will love it as much as they, Mama tells the cubs that they also need to make their friends' favorite foods and that some may not like the sandwiches.
The next few days the cubs go around asking their friends what they like. But nobody likes guacamole, cheese sandwiches, peanut butter, green onions, green peppers, tuna fish, mushrooms, squash, and other things like that, making them have to agree on boring "crackers and water". But Papa comes to the rescue and says that he used to be a Pizzaologist in college and lets the cubs make their own pizza. Brother and Sister ride their bikes to the hardware store, where they find Papa trying to purchase a one and a half-inch carving set. Papa finds that the Bear Country Hardware store doesn't have a one and a half inch carving set, so he is told by the clerk to check the Bear Country Mall for the carving set, much to Papa's, Brother's and Sister's delight.
The family drives to the giant mall, where Papa brags once again that he never gets lost. Mama, Brother and Sister, go over the rules of the mall, but since Papa believes that he never gets lost, he abandons the rules and goes alone to find the hardware store while the family agrees to meet in the food court in one hour.
Brother, Mama, and Sister look around the mall in a book store, a pet store, and a music store. The group has fun, but when the hour is finished they head to the food court but Papa doesn't show up. Mama is not surprised that Papa doesn't arrive and suspects that he got himself lost. The cubs and Mama ask a clerk for help to find Papa, but the clerk says that he hasn't seen Papa. They head to the lost cub center where they find Papa and Papa finally admits that he got lost.
The cubs show him where the hardware store is, and after Papa gets his carving set, he apologizes for the trouble he caused and promises to always follow the rules. Several of the cubs in Sister's first grade class have developed little nervous habits from the increased amount of work compared to kindergarten, but Sister's is the worst: When Mama places tape over Sister's fingers to keep her from biting them, Sister gets irritated by it because her friends tease her.
She cannot scratch itches and play Jacks and such, so eventually she takes off the tape and her nail-biting habit gets bigger and bigger. Papa and Mama get worried and Papa gets an idea for a reward where Sister would get a dime for every day she doesn't bite her nails until she can stop her habit. Sister is excited about the idea. But even that won't help Sister break her habit and she doesn't get a single dime. However, Gran gives Mama another suggestion: This way, the jingle of them in her pocket will remind her not to bite, and for every nail she does bite she must give back a penny.
The plan works, and although Sister has to give back a few pennies, she still gets ten fine fingernails and 93 pennies in ten days, breaking her nail-biting habit for good.
The Berenstain Bears, Do Not Fear, God Is Near
However Brother gets jealous that Sister has all those pennies and he tells Papa that he'll bite his nails so he can get money like Sister, but Brother tells Papa when he suspiciously objects that he was joking. Sister meets a new cub named Queenie McBear whose fashionable clothes and fancy bike impresses Sister's friends. When Sister tries to be friendly, Queenie scoffs at both Sister's name and her style of dress. She also wins over Sister's friends by buying them ice cream, as well as laughing that Sister still uses a tricycle.
Sister first tries to teach herself to ride Brother's bike in order to beat Queenie at her own game, but fails miserably. Mama tries to get Sister to fit in by getting her an outfit akin to Queenie's. While Sister appreciates Mama's kind gesture, she says it is not her, and that she would not change herself even if "Bear Country was attacked by an army of Queenie clones!
On the day of the tournament, many cubs participate, even some boys like Brother and Cousin Freddy. Sister's friends register for Sister's team when they see she is the best chance to win. Queenie turns out to be a disaster at jump rope, especially since she made the mistake of wearing dangly clothings and hoop earrings. Sister wins the tournament and is cheered by all, and Queenie admits she has learned a lesson in what it is like to be humiliated, and pledges to turn over a new leaf.
One morning, Mama is feeling annoyed because Brother and Sister keep playing the blame game with each other after every mistake and accident. When the cubs break a rose vase, and Mama rushes into the room, they blame each other for breaking the vase by protesting about how the vase broke and why they tried to tease each other causing to break the vase. Just as Mama is about to lose her temper, Papa comes in, holds both of the cubs responsible, and tells the cubs to instead solve the problem by cleaning up the mess.
They do so, but when Brother and Sister break the bay window with a baseball and begin the blame game again, Papa loses it as well until Mama helps them fix the problem. Papa reminds the cubs that while there are times when someone really is to blame, there's always enough blame to go around. One day, Mama gets an idea from a magazine to turn their attic into a lovely family room. The family goes up to the attic and plan to turn the junk into cash and hold a big yard sale the next day. But however when the family puts up their advertisements for the yard sale, they find that the junk happens to be forgotten treasures; like Brother's twirl-a-hoop, Papa's baseball card collection, a cracked honey pot as a wedding gift, Papa's sack race trophy, albums of Papa and Mama's wedding, and baby furniture in case they have another baby.
Eventually they have nothing to offer at the yard sale when they refuse to sell the treasures, so they cancel the yard sale and are able to clean up the attic enough to turn it into a family room. When Brother becomes ill, Dr. Grizzly recommends Brother to stay home until he feels better.
Brother is annoyed and overwhelmed with his homework and his place on the soccer team being disrupted by being bedridden, but Mama pampers him and gives him entertaining things to pass the time. Brother enjoys these so much that he neglects the folders of makeup work Sister brings home for him. By the time he recovers, Brother returns to a bumpy start; he has faltered to a second-stringer on the soccer team as Freddy has been promoted to the first string, and he is forced to take a math test.
Even in an unprepared state, Brother might have squeaked by on the test because he was good with division, but his mind was so distracted by faltering in position on the soccer team, causing him to fail and his test to be returned with all the answers incorrect and a remark saying "Very Poor! Must be Signed by Parents". When Brother and Sister return home, Sister becomes ill from Brother's earlier malady. Brother takes advantage of Mama's attention to Sister to hide the poor test. The next day, Brother becomes truant by intentionally missing the bus, turning his test into a paper airplane in an outrage of it both figuratively and literally, then walking down a dirt road ranting to himself how everything has gone wrong for him in soccer or academics.
The road is connected is along his grandparents' home, who see him and are perplexed as to why he is being truant, but Gramps decides to handle to problem in a kindly manner. He takes Brother to a swamp with an old rusted carriage submerged in the peat, and tells that many years ago he was driving the carriage through a series of wrong turns until finally, in a rage, he drove it right into the swamp. Gramps then realized he actually worked so hard to cause such a mess, similar to Brother's rant, and that if he only took a moment to stop and change course, all the trouble could have been avoided.
After the paper airplane is found, Gramps takes Brother home, to which Mama and Papa are not pleased to hear Brother was truant. But when Gramps shows he has taught Brother right, Papa signs the test and Mama returns Brother to school, commenting, "it is never too late to correct a mistake".
Brother's teacher says that most of Brother's students also did poorly on the math test, so he gives the class a second chance, to which Brother does well after learning an earlier lesson in division from Gramps. At soccer, the coach gives Brother his old position back as Freddy is not ready for the first string, but has been making progress. Rather than gloat, Brother comments to the coach "it is never too late to correct a mistake" and commends Freddy for sharpening his athletic ability.
Sister comes home crying about being assaulted by a bully, Brother goes to the empty school to avenge her only to find out the bully is a younger girl named Tuffy, and he walks away knowing he can't beat up a girl. Rather than getting even, Brother helps Sister in the art of self-defense and helps her vent her frustrations by creating a bean bag with a picture of Tuffy on front of it that she can punch.
As the days go by she becomes more proficient at self-defense until the day comes when Tuffy is throwing rocks at a baby bird during recess. When Sister stands up for the bird, Tuffy tries but fails to hit Sister and instead gets punched by Sister, ending in a bloody nose. Witnessing this, the teacher takes both cubs inside. While waiting to see the principal, Sister learns that Tuffy's behavior stems from how she is disciplined at home.
Sister is given a warning but avoids further punishment because teachers saw that she was just trying to protect the bird. Tuffy is sentenced to a week of detention during recess as punishment for her poor behavior and has to visit the school psychologist twice a week. One day, Lizzy Bruin invites Sister to play with her, which she happily accepts, and they start by playing house with their dolls. Their game is cut short by Lizzy's mother trying to make some phone calls.
The video was about teenagers in high school, who often got angry and upset with each other, and often teased one another. Whenever the teenagers in the video got angry or upset, they often used adult words that Sister had never heard. Sister assumes that the words are like "phooey" or "fudge", but more mature. After a few more hours with Lizzy, Sister goes home for dinner. At dinner, Sister tells her family about the video. Brother who had also seen the video with Barry questions whether or not Sister was old enough to be watching the video. Offended, Sister says that she liked the video a lot, but, accidentally knocks over her glass of milk.
Intending to say "Oh, phooey! Everyone at the table is shocked, and Sister tells Mama all about the adult words. Mama tells Sister that the words she heard from the video are not nice words, and should never be used by any cub, regardless of how angry or upset they are. When Sister asks whether grown-ups use those words, Mama sternly turns her attention to Papa. Papa starts to tell Sister about situations when grown-ups do use bad words E. G hitting their thumb with a hammer, or when wrong moves occur in sports , only to be cut off by Mama.
Mama then reiterates her point to Sister, that no one, Cubs or adults, should ever use swear words, since they just aren't nice. That night, as Sister is being tucked into bed, she asks Mama why Cubs and adults use swear, even though it isn't nice. Mama sighs, and answers that it just becomes a habit.
At the mall, some bears go up and down on the escalators. But they go too far when they go up the down escalator, and some go down the up escalator. The mall owner calls the police and the kids get back to their school. At a hat store, Momma discards her old hat and shops for a new one. She finds a reason to reject each hat that is brought to her, until she happens upon her old hat, declares it perfect, and leaves the store with it. During her first day at the school, she ends up befriending Brother, who has developed a crush on her and vice versa.
Meanwhile, a school rendition of Romeo and Juliet helps both clans realize what could happen if they continue to feud with one another. In the end, Brother and Bonnie are able to continue with their friendship. Instead of buying one from Grizzly Gus, they go out into the forest, despite the cold and snow, and find various trees that appear to be homes to all kinds of animals.