Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wednesdays with David: The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Pressure

The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Pressure
By Stan and Jan Berenstain
Random House 1992
From the childhood shelves of the mama


With the very sad passing of Jan Berenstain, it seemed only appropriate that we should share a favorite Berenstain Bears book here with you. These books belonged to my sisters and me as children and I love sharing them with David now.

The story: Brother and Sister Bear are picking up activities faster than Mama Bear can put them on the giant calendar. A day filled with karate, art class, soccer, swimming, and shopping is thwarted by a car on the fritz. What's a busy family to do?

Mama opines: I love the Berenstain Bears books. They are so true to life, and I love their depictions of how a family works. In this book in particular, I am touched by how the children want to help their mama who is at the end of her rope. I appreciate Papa's admission to Brother Bear that even daddies cry sometimes. I love the fact that they can decide as a family that something is not working and then make a plan to fix it together. This series may be a few decades old, but the stories and concepts are timeless.

Thoughts from David: I like it because they do all this stuff and they have the awful schedule! And 'cuz they have a family meeting, that’s my favorite part.

Some of our other favorites are The Berenstain Bears and the Truth, The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers, and The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Friends

Do you remember reading these as a child? Do you read them now with your kids? What is your favorite Berenstain Bears book?


Happy Reading from the boy and his mama!

2 comments:

  1. I LOVED the Berenstein Bears when I was a kid! I had several! This also was one of my favorites. But my most absolute favorite was The Messy Room...I used to dream my room could look like the last couple of pages!

    I have read several of them to my kids. At my friend's daycare, all the kids are addicted to the PBS TV show. From ages 1-10, they all love it! When my friend and I take them to the library, they go right for these books!

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    1. David likes to get them out from the library as well, although I try to steer him away from that one corner that has all of the tv/movie tie-in books!

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