The Berenstain Bears and the Truth

The Berenstain Bears and the Truth tells how Brother Bear and Sister Bear tell a lie, and come to learn that they should always tell the truth, because, as the book says, “trust is one thing you can’t put back together once it’s broken.”

The story opens with Brother and Sister Bear sitting at home, doing nothing, and bored. Sister Bear suggests some things they could do, but Brother dismisses her ideas. Annoyed, she accuses him of being in love with the soccer ball he’s been holding. Incensed, he challenges her to try to stop him from dribbling the ball past her. Of course, playing soccer in the house must end badly, and Mama’s favorite lamp is broken.

When Mama arrives back home, moments later, Brother and Sister insist that show more it was a bird that broke the lamp–a purple bird with yellow feet, green wing tips, and red feathers sticking out of its head, they embellish. But Mama and Papa, who arrives later, aren’t fooled by their story. Mama tells them that the lamp can be fixed, but she is sad that her cubs, who she’s always trusted, are lying to her, and that trust can’t be so easily repaired.

Hearing this, both Brother and Sister fall all over themselves to take the blame for breaking the lamp, and we are told that after this, they “never, ever again told a whopper.”

Like many of the later books, the story is just there to hang the moral lesson on, so it’s not that great. But the part with them describing the bird is a little amusing, and the lesson is good, even if it’s a bit unbelievable that they never lied again.

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(The rest of this review is posted on my blog.) show less

Most books have a plot that you can almost predict. This book was very predictable but can teach people of all ages a life lesson. I would read this book from age 1st- 4th grade along with pre-k and k students. It teaches a lesson of morality on lying. The more you lie, the more you have to keep up with your lies is the lesson this book was trying to portray. A brother and a sister broke one of their mother's rules of the house. As a consequence, they broke their mother's favorite lamp and came up with this outrageous lie on how the lamp broke. Both the brother and the sister confused their story when telling their father getting them caught in a lie. When the came out with the truth, they realized that a lamp is something that can be show more fixed, but the trust is something that once it is broken, it can be never be fully fixed again. show less

I think that this book is good for young children because it teaches them that they should always tell the truth. It is easy for kids to stretch the truth and this book teaches them that it is not okay to tell a lie. It shows them the consequences of telling a lie as well as the rewards for telling the truth.

The Berenstain Bears books have been a favorite of mine, but I do really believe this book is one of the best. I really enjoy this book because of the characters and how they act and behave. The authors are so good with brother and sister bear, making every situation very realistic and plausible. In this book brother and sister break a lamp with a soccer ball and in fear both of them lie to their mother to not get in trouble. Another reason I love this book is the plot of the story. The story starts on a boring day with nothing to do and so the kids get rough and play soccer inside, giving us the buildup of knowing something bad is going to happen. The authors then have the conflict of breaking the lamp and move into the lying bears. In show more the end though they show the big picture of the book by having mama bear talk about how "A broken lamp can be glued back together, but trust cannot be". Last, I love the images in these books, not only do they bring back many childhood memories, but they connect very well with the story and sometimes you don’t even have to read the page to understand what is happening. When brother bear kicks the ball the words describe what is happening and how quickly, the illustration is showing almost word for word the process of the lamp being broken. The big picture or main theme of this story is that the true is always the best. show less

Brother and Sister Bear accidentally break Mama's favorite lamp and try to cover it up. Through their subsequent lies and growing guilt, the cubs learn that dishonesty only makes situations worse and creates a tangle of additional problems.

This was a pretty easy book to understand and sympathize with, what kid has not been tempted to lie to avoid trouble? But in the end, honesty is indeed the best policy!

A typical Berenstain Bears book that focuses on the value of telling the truth, even when things go wrong. Brother Bear and Sister Bear knock over Mama Bear's favorite lamp while their parents are out shopping. When their parents return, instead of telling them the truth, they create a "whopper" of a lie. When Brother and Sister get caught up in their lie, they learn that telling the truth is an important aspect of trust, that once broken "is not something that you can put back together again."