The Berenstain Bears' New Neighbors (First Time Books(R))

hilarious.. the bears get new neighbors, the pandas, and papa doesn't like them at all. they eat different food than him, look different, etc. i didn't realize the berenstain's treaded on such heavy topics.. ( )

the bears meet new friends !

Berenstain Bear books are cheap, and cover nearly every issue, but they sometimes have problems with them.

Take this one.

Papa Bear is often the foil to Mama's wisdom. Unfortunately, that means in this book he's stuck being the bigot, disliking their neighbors for being different... even though he's never been presented like that before.

His objections are settled miraculously - and unbelievably - quickly as well.

The whole book comes across as very unrealistic, really.

One point of interest - the Bears host a neighborhood potluck, but they use the term "covered dish dinner" instead. ( )

When pandas rather than brown bears move in across the dirt road deep in Bear Country, Papa Bear is concerned about the new neighbors being different. When the Bear family gets to know the Panda family, they befriend them and welcome them to the neighborhood, and Papa realizes just how interesting and important different-looking people can be. ( )