The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas by Stan & Jan Berenstain with Mike Berenstain

from goodreads

3 stars

Growing up I loved Berenstain Bear books. I loved it when my teacher at school read them to us. Sister Bear was my favourite. Now as an adult, I read them to my kids, and find some of them are a bit more preachy then I remember. But, the morals are good, and maybe the things that I find preachy are the things that I need to work on. So thanks for the reminder Berenstains!

Synopsis

It is Christmas in Bear Country and the bears are all fighting over toys at the Bear Country mall and trying to out do neighbours in the decorating department. Santa Bear sees this and gets annoyed and says if things don't change he is going to cancel Christmas! Mama Bear, always the wise voice of reason, discovers that she doesn't like how commercial and over the top Christmas is getting and does her best to change how her family is acting in hopes that it will save Christmas and make Santa Bear happy.

My Thoughts

While this book does a good job of letting children know that Christmas is more about kindness and love then getting gifts, it seems a bit odd to me. Why didn't Mama Bear express her desire for more simple decorations before Papa and the Cubs put up all the decorations on the tree house? Like she was there, and that seems like a lot of wasted time and effort if it just going to be pulled down again.

Also, as if all their neighbours took down all their stuff, just because the Bear family simplified. Maybe it makes sense to kids, but as an adult, who does that?

So on the whole, it is a good book to get kids thinking about Christmas, and what it truly means and that it is a time of thanks and giving, more than huge wishlists and crazy behaviour. So the kids will like it. As the adult reading it, it is not quite as enjoyable, but then anytime you are sharing a story with children it is great. So read it in that spirit, not for your own edification.