Mike Berenstain

Bear Country School decides to hold graduation for each grade, so Brother, Sister, and Honey all get to participate in a moving up ceremony.

A local preschool teacher had been looking for preschool graduation books, and I scoured high and low to find any. (Long story short, ones specific to pre-K really don't exist.) This book does have Honey graduating from day care as her older siblings graduate from first and third grade.

In this title, the bears reflect on what they learned throughout show more their school year before gathering with their parents and grandparents to walk in graduation. The book does a good job of giving an overview of things kids learn in different grades of elementary school as well as the individual components in a typical graduation ceremony (e.g., cap, gown, diploma, etc.).

All in all, this is a pretty solid offering for young kids who will be participating in some type of graduation and for their caregivers who want to prep them for what that ceremony will be like. show less

Fun with the Bears!

This is a lovable collection of six Berenstain Bears books bound with a nice hardback. The following selections are included:

The Berenstain Bears Faithful Friends

The Berenstain Bears God Made You Special

The Berenstain Bears Why Do Good Bears Have Bad Days?

The Berenstain Bears Honesty Counts

The Berenstain Bears Play a Good Game

The Berenstain Bears God's Wonderful World

Each book contains a cute story, but it also teaches a lesson. For instance, one book deals with the hurt show more and jealousy of a friend. Instead of possibly losing that friendship, the story suggests a solution.

In another book, a child isn't exactly like everyone else. Sometimes children like that are ignored, or called names. This book offers another, better way to try.

The books offer a good way to turn a difficult situation into a positive one, all packaged in a great story.

There is a nice surprise in the back of the volume. Instructions are given for several things to do outside--all of them are time-tested ways to have fun.

Berenstain books are well-known and have been around for a long time, but this is my first experience with them. But it will not be my last. Ages four through eight-years-old will enjoy this five-star collection. I highly recommend it!

Thank you, Zonderkidz, for providing Tickmenot with a book to review. Opinions are my own. show less

I truly hate assigning so low a rating to this book, because our family likes the Berenstain books, and the stories in these staples of children's literature tend to be entertaining and well written. However, this particular entry in the series is inferior to its brethren books. The story describes Brother and Sister Bear venturing into a haunted house, in search of their cat who preceded them. It features lift the flaps, usually in the places the bears are searching around or under or show more behind. Eventually, they do find their cat, sitting with another Bear, the owner of the house. Brother and Sister proclaim that she is a nice bear after all, even if she does live in a haunted house, and promise to visit her again.

The concept behind the book is fine, and could lead to a good story about mistaken first impressions and being carried away by one's imagination. However, these themes are not developed at all. In the first place, the house is not scary. No ghosts, no creepy shadows or spooky animals jumping out at them, nothing moving or floating around on its own. It is just some armor and dusty furniture and lots of cute and cuddly animals hiding in strange places. For a story about a haunted house, this book is disappointing. It is absurdly unscary. This could have been explained if the house had an unfair reputation of being haunted, and the author included some of the stories the bears had heard that led them to this conclusion, but no such framework exists.

The second major problem is that the bear at the end of the book is simply a picture and a few sentences. The story does not characterize her at all. It never even mentions her until the end. Why didn't Brother and Sister know about her? Why does she live in this house? Why is she even a nice bear? We don't know, because the book doesn't tell us. It left me caring absolutely nothing about her, her house, and the entire surrounding adventure. Basically, this book is a dashed off story that uses familiar characters and the lift-the-flap technique to generate interest, and tie into a popular holiday motif. We ordered it through a school book order form, and I was excited to read it to my daughters, but it was a sad disappointment. show less

This delightful Berenstain Bears cookbook features 40 easy-to-make recipes spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks.

Each recipe takes up a two-page spread. One page contains a photo of the finished product. The other side contains a list of required ingredients under the header “What you need:” and contained with a border. Also on that page under “Directions” are very simple, numbered instructions to complete the recipe. There are also drawings of the Berenstain Bears on show more each double-page spread.

In addition to the recipes, a page with interesting facts about honey and a page with measurement conversions (ex. 8 Tbls = 1/2 Cup) are included. All measurements in the book are in standard, not metric measurements.

Most recipes can be used with children as young as 2 or 3 by simply adjusting the amount of adult assistance. Likewise, the recipe book can be used by older children who can begin to do some of the things that the book assumes the adult would do such as preparation ie. slicing vegetables.

The recipes are interesting and healthy. Some of them have suggestions to add honey to make a sweeter version. For example, one of the sandwich recipes suggests adding some honey to the mustard instead of using plain mustard.

The one critique that I have about the recipes is that not all of them are made from scratch. Some of them use pre-made food such as mixes, doughs and canned foods. This is noted more in the Breakfast section than in any other.

The finished products are very appealing to the eye and the recipes are tasty. I believe you cannot properly review a cookbook without tasting some of the recipes. No matter how good the book looks, if the recipes don’t taste good too, the book isn't worth anything.

The Berenstain Bears Country Cookbook is a winner on all counts. The photos are excellent. The presentation of the recipes and their directions are simple and easy to follow. The pages are colourful and fun to look at. And most of all, the recipes taste good. I gave this childrens' cookbook 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publishers for providing this book through Booklook Bloggers in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive review was not required. All thoughts are my own.

This review was published on my blog Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-review-berenstain-bear... show less