The Berenstain Bears Picture Book Collection: Sixteen Books in One. 9781504046121, 1504046129

Citation preview

The&errenstainBears PICTURE BOOK COLLECTION Volume One

M

AND JAN BERENSTAIN

STAN AND JAN BERENSTAIN

EARLY BIRD BOOKS F R E S H E B O O K D E AL S , D E L I V E R E D D AI LY

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Before long it was baseball season. And once more Coach Bruin posted a tryout sign. “Are you going to try out ? ” Brother’s playmates asked. Brother Bear was a good sandlot baseball player. He was a good fielder, an excellent base runner, and he usually got his share of hits. “ I guess so,” he said.

B

COACH

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The Berenstain Bears

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A Berenstain Bears Ebook

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The Berenstain Bears

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We all have something we do thebest ~ a little bit better than the rest.

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_ “ Hooray! Hooray!”

their friends all say. “ The Bears’ Olympics

Ready, get set, run!

Papa runs fast. Brother runs faster.

When it comes to running, Sister is better than the rest.

Fast, faster, fastest. Good, better, best.

Ready, get set, jump!

Papa jumps far.

Sister jumps farther.

Brother jumps farthest.

When it comes to jumping, Brother is best abetter jumper than the rest.

—

Far, farther, farthest. Good, better, best.

& '

Ready, get set, climb! Papa climbs high.

Brother climbs higher. Sister climbs highest.

When it comes to climbing, Sister is better than the rest. Poor old Papa. Won’t he EVER

do something the best ?

Ready, get set, dive!

Ready, get set, drive!

deepest.

Good,

better,

Good

better,

best.

Ready, get set, swing!

Ready, get set, spring!

STICK POGO Swingy,

Springy,

Good,

better, Good,

Papa, Brother, Sister, all need a rest.

“Whew!” says Sister. “Whew!” says Brother. “Whew!” says Papa.

Poor old Papa. Won’t he EVER do something the best much, much better than the rest?

—

Ready, get set, sleep!

z z < .

-

.-

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The Bears go to sleep.

,

Sister sleeps long. She is a good sleeper.

Z

z

Brother sleeps longer. He is a better sleeper.

Papa s still asleep! He is the best sleeper.

Long,

Good,

longest.

longer,

better,

-

.

“ Hooray! Hooray!”

their friends all shout. “Without a doubt! Without a doubt! There IS something

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1988 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1-4532-9440-6

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014 www.openroadmedia.com

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THEBERENSTAIN BEARS'

THE BERENSTAIN BEARS Stan &Jan Berenstain

O P E N

R O A D MEDIA

NEW YORK

One early fall day when Brother Bear and his friends were playing touch football, Coach Bruin, the athletic director of Bear Country School, posted a sign on the big shagbark hickory that served as the official bulletin tree.

Country School “ Look!” said one of Brother’s playmates. “ They’re going to have

tryouts for the school football team!” Now, Brother was a pretty good backyard football player, so when his friends asked, “Are you going out for the team?” Brother answered, “Sure. Why not ?”

FOOTBALL

But when he went out for the team, he found that the other bears who were trying out came in three sizes big, bigger, and colossal.

—

Brother was a pretty good runner, but it wasn’t so easy to run with the ball when much bigger and older bears were trying to stop him. Brother was a pretty good passer, but it wasn’t so easy to pass the ball when Too-tall Grizzly tried to block it. And Brother was a good pass-catcher too, but it wasn’t easy to catch a pass in a crowd when everybody in the crowd was at least a head taller than he was.

Brother got pretty discouraged. But Coach Bruin liked the way Brother Bear did his best. “ Brother, you’re just not big and strong enough yet for the school team. But I like your spirit. How would you like to be Water Bear ? You’ll be helping and you’ll get to ride on the team bus.” Brother said yes.

Before long it was baseball season. And once more Coach Bruin posted a tryout sign. “Are you going to try out ? ” Brother’s playmates asked. Brother Bear was a good sandlot baseball player. He was a good fielder, an excellent base runner, and he usually got his share of hits. “ I guess so,” he said.

B

COACH

> '

But at the tryouts the first thing Brother had to do was bat against Too-tall Grizzly. Brother struck out on three straight fastballs.

.

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,

“ I don’t think you’re quite ready yet , Brother, ” said Coach Bruin. “ But how would you like to be Bat Bear ? ” “ Okay,” said Brother. Being Bat Bear would be all right , but it wouldn’t be

like being part of the team.

The same thing happened with basketball. Brother was the smallest one at the tryouts and every time he tried to take a shot you guessed it there was Too-tall, ready to block it. “ I still like your spirit,” said the coach. “ How would you like to be Manager? ” Now, that sounded pretty impressive, so Brother took the job.

—

—

But being manager turned out to mean taking care of all the dirty uniforms and wet towels after the game, and it really wasn’t much fun. Especially when Too-tall Grizzly dumped his dirty shirt and wet towel on Brother’s head. Brother got angry. He got very angry.

He got so angry that he began to kick things around the locker room. He kicked the wet towels. He kicked the water bucket and dipper. He kicked a soda can.

Then Brother went outside and kicked a stone against a tree and when it bounced back, he leaped up and kicked it again

—

right into a hole in the tree. “Just a minute , Brother Bear !” called Coach Bruin. Brother figured he was in big trouble.

“Sorry about that , Coach, ” he said. “ I just got so angry ” “ Never mind about that! ” the coach said. “ You’re a fantastic kicker, and you’re just the bear I’ve been looking for for the school soccer team!”

—

—

And Brother didn’t even have to try out. Not only was he a great kicker, but because he was so quick and small, he ran rings around the bigger players, who were a little clumsy Once, at practice, he scored by dribbling the ball right between Too-tall’s legs. Brother became Star Forward on the school soccer team.

f f,

Brother scored so many winning goals that at the end of the season Too-tall and the other bigger, older players carried Star Forward Brother Bear off the field on their shoulders. “ Good work,” said the coach. “We’re having football tryouts again pretty soon, and, you know, you’re getting bigger and stronger all the time. I’d like

you to try out.” Brother Bear said he’d think about it.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text maybe reproduced , transmitted, downloaded , decompiled , reverse engineered , or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system , in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented , without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1983 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1- 4532 -9442-0

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

THE BERENSTAINBEARS SHOOT

THE RAP/DS

Stan &Jan Berenstain O P E N INTEGRATED

R O A D

Papa Bear was fishing from his old dugout canoe when he saw Brother Bear, Sister Bear, and Cousin Fred coming along the bank. They were

The Bear Scouts slid their canoe into the water, hopped in, and started to paddle. “Just a minute,” said Papa. “ This is just a quiet stream , but it leads to Great Roaring River!” “ We know, Papa ,” answered the scouts. “We’re going to earn our official Bear Scout Canoe Merit Badges today!” And off they paddled toward the sound of Great Roaring River.

“You’d better wait for me!” shouted Papa. “ I just happen to be the world’s greatest canoe expert. I can help if you get into trouble.” “ But , Papa!” called Sister. “ You’re the one who may get into trouble. You’re not wearing a lifejacket!” “Stuff and nonsense! ” said Papa , standing up in his canoe. “ Don’t worry

about me.

“Sit down, Papa!” said Brother. “ The official Bear Scout guide book says ‘Never ever stand up in a canoe’! ” “ Tut , tut!” continued Papa , ignoring Brother’s warning. “Why, I know this river like the palm of my paw. I know it from top to hel-l-lp!” he hollered as

—

the dugout tipped over...and sent him to the bottom.

“ Don’t worry, Papa!” called Brother. “ We’ll save you!” The Bear Scouts fished him out of the river with a boat hook and helped him back into his

dugout. “Save me? Expert swimmer Papa Bear? Pooh!” said Papa. “Why, I just decided to cool off with a little dip!” “ Hmm,” said Sister, looking at the map. “ The river narrows up ahead. That could mean rapids! ”

“ Nonsense!” said Papa. “ Those rapids are miles away! I’ll have a little nap and just float along.” “ Papa , the Bear Scout guide says ‘When canoing, be alert for every sight and sound,’” said Brother.

But Papa was already dozing and didn’t hear the sound of rapids ahead. “White water!” screamed Sister as they rounded a bend.

The Bear Scouts managed to lasso Papa’s dugout with their rope just before it got sucked into the whirlpool. “ Phew!” said Cousin Fred. “ That was a close call!” “ Not at all,” said Papa. “ I just wanted to see how you’d react in an

emergency.”

Soon after they shot the rapids, Brother shouted , “ Head for the shore! The map says ‘Danger rocky gorge ahead.’ It’s time to portage!” “What’s ‘portage’? ” asked Sister, “ It means to take the canoe out of the water and carry it along the shore.” “ Carry the canoe? That’s ridiculous!” said Papa. “As for rocks who’s afraid of a rock or two? See you downstream! Ta-ta!”

—

—

When the cubs got back to the river, there was Papa , hanging on to a rock for dear life as his battered dugout floated away. “What took you so long? ” he said. Once again, the Bear Scouts managed to rescue Papa and his dugout.

The Bear Scouts were almost at the end of their merit badge trip down Great Roaring River. To the right was a small winding stream. The scouts looked at the map. The right fork showed a twisty stream. Straight ahead was marked “ Danger! ” “ No twisty streams for me! I’ll take the fast way,” said Papa , paddling straight ahead. A few seconds later he saw a sign: GREAT GRIZZLY FALLS AHEAD.

The cubs paddled their way down the twisty stream. When they got to the bottom of Great Grizzly Falls, there was Papa waiting for them once more. He was in tatters and his dugout was in splinters. Scout Leader Jane was waiting too. Together they pulled him out of the river.

“ We’re sorry,” said Brother to Scout Leader Jane. “ But we were so busy rescuing Papa that we didn’t have time to do our merit badge tests.” “You did them and then some!” answered Jane. “ Because Papa Bear put you to the test! So here are merit badges for each of you...and one for Papa , who showed you what you should not do!”

—

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text maybe reproduced , transmitted, downloaded , decompiled , reverse engineered , or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system , in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented , without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1983 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1- 4532 -9441-3

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

STAIN BEARS

®

Ebook

THE BERENSTAIN BEARS

TO Stan &*Jan Berenstain

O P E N

R O A D

This was going to be a big day for bear scouts Brother, Sister, and Cousin Fred. To earn their Official Rescue Merit Badges, they had formed a rescue squad. Now all they had to do was find somebody

to rescue.

“ Finding somebody to rescue is no problem at all,” said Papa. “You happen to be looking at the world’s greatest rescue expert. I have rescued bears from every imaginable danger roaring fires, raging rivers, terrible earthquakes. Just follow me and we’ll find somebody to rescue pretty quick.”

—

Papa was as good as his word. He found somebody right away. It was Grizzly Gran. “ Look!” shouted Papa. “Grizzly Gran is almost over her head in the pond! To the rescue!”

But when Papa dived into the pond, he found that Gran wasn’t over her head at all. There had been a dry spell and the pond had become very shallow Gran was simply resting on the bottom of the pond, cooling off.

“ Don’t you worry,” said Papa after

the bear scouts had pulled him out of the muck and hosed him down. “ I’ll help you earn your merit badges. “ Look! Right over there in Farmer Ben’s meadow Farmer Ben’s daughter! She’s being chased by a bull! To the rescue!”

—

But Papa was wrong again. Farmer Ben’s daughter was merely leading Old Bossy out for milking. She wasn’t in the bull’s pen.

Me

Papa was! And the huge , angry bull was coming after him like an express train!

Once again the bear scouts got Papa out of trouble this time by waving their scout hats at the bull , giving Papa a chance to escape.

—

The bear scouts were beginning to wonder if they were ever going to earn their merit badges. “Of course you are!” said Papa. “ You’re going to have your chance right now! Because there’s a poor chap being attacked by a swarm of angry bees!” Once again it was Papa Bear to the

rescue.

And once again it was Papa Bear in big trouble! The “ poor chap” was really Beehive Bruin, the beekeeper, and he wasn’t being attacked. He was just tending his bees, which weren’t a bit angry. At least not until Papa butted in.

But the bear scouts’ motto is “ Be prepared,” and one of the scouts whipped out a bug bomb and saved Papa from a stinging.

The scouts were becoming very discouraged. “ If we’re going to earn our merit badges today, we’re going to have to rescue somebody soon,” said Sister Bear. “And you will!” shouted Papa. “ Because there’s an unfortunate fellow trapped on a narrow ledge. One false move and he falls a thousand feet into Great Bear Gorge.”

But it was Papa’s footing that gave way, and over he went into Great Bear Gorge. Papa didn’t fall a thousand feet. Luckily his overall suspenders caught

on a scruffy tree. The fellow on the ledge turned out to be that expert climber Professor Actual Factual Bear, out looking for rock specimens.

The bear scouts managed to pull Papa up with their trusty ropes, but they were very disappointed. “Our efforts to earn rescue merit badges have been a complete failure, ” said Brother Bear. “We haven’t rescued anybody!”

“ Not so!” said Scout Leader Jane,

who had been quietly following them. “ You have rescued Papa Bear four times! And here are four Official Rescue Merit Badges one for each of you and one for Papa. He was as good as his word. He said he’d help you earn your badges, and he did! ”

—

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced , transmitted, downloaded , decompiled , reverse engineered , or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system , in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented , without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1983 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1- 4532-9443-7

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

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&Jan Berenstain

THE BERENSTAIN BEARS

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“ Oh, look!” said Sister Bear. “ Our neighbors, the woodchucks, are moving out of their burrow.” It was true. The woodchuck family, who had been good quiet neighbors for years, was moving

out.

The Bear family waved good-bye to the woodchucks, who were moving to the far edge of Bear Country to be close to Mrs. Chuck’s relatives. Sister looked at the empty burrow and wondered who might be moving in.

“ Look! Some beavers! ” said Brother a couple of days later. Indeed, a beaver

couple was looking at the burrow.

“ Beavers will make fine neighbors, ” said Papa. “ They are quiet and hardworking,

and they are also great engineers. They do wonderful work with dams and streams.” “Yes, ” agreed the cubs. “ Beavers will make very interesting neighbors.”

But the empty burrow was a little far from the nearest stream, so the beavers decided not to move in. A family of bunnies came hopping along in search of a home. “Oh, boy! Bunnies! ” shouted Brother. “ We’ll have fun playing with bunnies!” “Oh, yes!” said Sister. “ I do hope they move in!”

r

But the burrow was much too small for the growing bunny family, and they hopped away. Days and weeks passed. The burrow not only remained empty, but it also became overgrown with weeds. A tree was uprooted during a storm and fell across the front door.

Then one day, when the Bear family had pretty much forgotten about the empty burrow, Mama noticed that the “ For Sale” sign was covered over with a “Sold ” sign. “ I wonder who our new neighbor will be, ” said the cubs. They didn’t have to wonder long, because it turned out that their new neighbor was...

—A SKUNK! “Oh, dear!” said Papa. “What’ll we do?!” cried the cubs. “What we will do,” said calm, cool Mama , “is give our new neighbor a

friendly welcome and ask if we can help him in any way.”

Mr. Skunk was a pleasant, friendly little fellow despite his “strong ” reputation, and was in need of help. He especially needed help with the big

heavy tree that was blocking his door. Just as skunks are “strong” in their way, so bears are strong in theirs. Big strong Papa removed that tree in two shakes of a skunk’s tail.

The cubs and Mama pitched in and helped to clear away the creepers and vines. Pretty soon Mr. Skunk was all moved in. “ I certainly appreciate your help, ” he said to the Bear family. “ That’s all right , Mr. Skunk, ” said Brother. “Yes,” added Sister. “ Helping out is what good neighbors are for! ”

A.SKUNK

—

But not all neighbors are good not even in Bear Country. Too-tall Grizzly, who lived down the road, was a not-sogood neighbor. Sometimes, on the way to school, he and his gang teased Brother and Sister Bear.

-

,,

Too-tall wasn’t really a bad fellow, but he liked to show off for his gang, and that sometimes got him into trouble. “You give Sister Bear back her books!” shouted Brother angrily Tootall had snatched Sister’s books and was twirling them around his head. “ Give back those books! ” shouted Brother again. “Who’s going to make me? ” said Tootall in a mean voice.

“ I will!” said a small familiar voice. It was the voice of Mr. Skunk, who had

been watching the goings-on from his burrow. “ Oh, yeah ? ” jeered Too-tall. “What can you do, you little...?”

But before Too-tall could finish his smart-talk, Mr. Skunk had assumed the firing position and let Too-tall Grizzly have a short burst of his “strength” right between the nostrils. Too-tall dropped Sister’s books and he and his gang skedaddled as fast as they could. “ We certainly appreciate your help, Mr. Skunk,” said Sister Bear.

“ Think nothing of it , ” said Mr. Skunk. “After all helping out is what good neighbors are for !”

—

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced , transmitted, downloaded , decompiled , reverse engineered , or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system , in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented , without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1984 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1-4532-9430 -7

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

BEARS THEand BERENSTAIN the

Ebook

renstain

THE BERENSTA/N BEARS Stan &Jan Berenstain

R O A D

Papa Bear was relaxing in his hammock, Brother Bear was riding his skateboard , and Sister Bear was skipping rope. “ Papa!” called Mama from the kitchen window of the Bears’ tree house. “ Instead of snoozing, I should think you could do some chores around the house.”

But Papa wasn’t snoozing. He was deep in thought , thinking about his favorite thing honey! Especially the wild, wild honey in the gnarled old bee tree deep in the dark forest.

—

“ Papa ,” said Sister. “ Mama’s calling you to do chores.” “Chores? What kind of chores? ”

asked Papa. “ Take your choice ,” said Mama. “ There’s a broken step, some loose bark, and all the faucets in the house drip.”

“ Of course, my dear. I’ll take care of it. You can count on me.”

But Papa was still thinking about ways to get that special honey the wild, wild honey in the gnarled old bee tree deep in the dark forest.

—

' .

He had tried just about everything, but all he had gotten for his trouble was

stung. He had tried pretending he wasn’t going after all, but the bees had spied Papa’s honey pot and stormed

after him.

-

He had tried hiding in the bushes until the worker bees left on their daily rounds. Then he tried to break into the bee tree with tooth and claw. But that hadn’t worked either. The queen bee had heard the commotion and called the workers home. Once more Papa had been foiled.

“ Well, I’d better get to work on those faucets,” said Papa, getting out of his

hammock. “ Wait a minute! I’ve got it ! What an idea! The perfect way to get that wild, wild honey quiet , easy, and safe! ”

—

He went into his workshop and came out with a faucet that’s right , an old, discarded faucet.

—

He shined it up and oiled it so that it

was working properly. “What are you going to do? ” asked Brother. “ It’s very simple. I’m going to drill a hole in the base of the bee tree and install the faucet. Then , whenever I’m in the mood for honey, I’ll just turn on the faucet and fill my pot with that delicious wild , wild honey.”

“ Do you think it will work? ” asked Sister as the cubs followed Papa along

“Of course it will work, ” Papa

whispered as he drilled a hole in the base of the bee tree. “It’s super-duper guaranteed to work.” It began to look as if Papa was right. He worked quietly so as not to alert the queen bee or any of her subjects. Indeed, there wasn’t a bee in sight. Soon Papa’s invention was ready. “ Now I’ll turn on the faucet and yum, I can almost taste it we’ll have instant honey ! ” Papa turned the handle.

—

—

“ Papa , look out!” cried the cubs. For what came out of the faucet was not instant honey, but instant bees!

“Yi-i-i-i-pe!” yelled Papa as the

bees chased him along the path away from the gnarled old bee tree.

Back at the tree house the cubs explained to Mama that Papa’s honey faucet hadn’t worked very well. “ Doesn’t surprise me,” said Mama. “ The faucets in our house don’t work very well either.”

Then Mama went to work tweezing the stingers out of the seat of Papa’s overalls. “Ouch!” said Papa. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text maybe reproduced , transmitted, downloaded , decompiled , reverse engineered , or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system , in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented , without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1983 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1- 4532 -9435-2

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

The.Berenstain Bears .

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I Snow was melting.

Rain was pelting.

Excitement filled the air. It cheered the heart of every bear.

Was it the magic hocus-pocus of early blue and yellow crocus...

Or was it old Jack Frost

skedaddling north...

or Ms. Robin just up from the South with nest -grass in her beaky mouth ?

or forsythia magically bursting forth ?

It was all of those and one thing more

that the turning Earth had in store.

coconut eggs with eggy centers, soft and runny.

It was Easter ! And , of course,

Easter baskets with paper grass,

and goodies for each lad and lass.

So we sing,

so we say,

don’t eat too much on this yummy Easter day!

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded , decompiled , reverse engineered , or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system , in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented , without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 1997 by Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1-4532-9432-1

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014 www.openroadmedia.com

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NEW YORK

It was a quiet relaxed afternoon at the edge of the forest where the Bear family lived a little too relaxed to Mama Bear’s way of thinking. Papa Bear was snoozing in his hammock, Sister Bear was playing jacks and Brother Bear was practicing paddle ball. “ Papa ,” she said, shaking the hammock, “ there’s work to be done! The steps need fixing, there’s loose bark around the front door and we’re losing

—

“ Later, my dear, later,” mumbled Papa. Mama looked at the cubs. “And don’t you have homework to do? ” she asked. “We’ll get to it ,” they said.

That’s when Sister noticed what was happening across

“Who will be moving in ? ” Brother

asked as they helped him load his belongings onto his truck. The house was much too small for bears.

“Can’t say at the moment, ” he said. “ But I’ve placed it in the hands of Miz Muskrat. She’s a very good real estate person.” “Well, keep in touch,” called Mama as they

waved goodby. “ I hope whoever moves in has kids,” said Sister.

The next day Miz Muskrat brought a family of bunnies to look at the house. “ Bunnies are fun, ” said Brother Bear. “And they have lots of kids,” said Sister, trying to

A day or so later, Miz Muskrat

“ Nice place,” said Mr. Bunny, “but much too small for our growing family.” “ It could easily be expanded,” said Miz

Muskrat.

brought a porcupine couple to look at the house. They had long sharp quills and were rather grumpy and disagreeable.

“ Not as fast as our family!”

Brother and Sister breathed a sigh of relief when they decided against the house and left. “ They weren’t very friendly,” said Sister. “ Porcupines tend to be a little prickly,” explained Miz Muskrat.

,

Later that week when the Bear family was gathered in the kitchen, Mama announced, “ There’s a family looking at the empty house a couple with one youngster.” “ Look at those funny tails,” said Sister. “ I bet they’re great at paddle ball,” commented Brother. “ Uh-oh, beavers,” said Papa. “And it looks like they’re making a deal for the house.”

—

“What’s the matter with beavers? ”

asked Brother. “ Plenty,” said Papa. “ The hardest working critters known to nature. Bunch of workaholics. They’re not called eager beavers for nothing.”

“What’s a workaholic, Papa? ” asked Brother. “ It’s somebody, ” he said, “who doesn’t know how to have fun.” “ It’s also,” said Mama , “ a word made up by lazy folk to put down those who aren’t. But, be that as it may, those beavers will be good, hardworking neighbors and when they move in we’re going over

there and welcome them with a jar of our special honey.”

“ Thank you very much,” they said. “ Now, if you’ll

It wasn’t long before they had the place sparkling with fresh paint, new trim and a

So he began to do a little fixing up of his own. He repaired the steps, took care of the loose bark and fixed the shutter. Mama and the cubs were very proud of him. He was proud of himself .

Meanwhile, across the road, the Beavers had taken notice of the Bears. “Just look at that time-wasting Papa Bear,” said Mr. Beaver as he worked on a new birdbath. “ Doesn’t he have anything better to do than play with his cubs?” But Mrs. Beaver couldn’t help thinking why

—

The Bears and the Beavers became friends as well as

“ The birds can wait a bit longer for their bath,” he said as he set up the checkers on Junior’s table. “And homework doesn’t spoil your move!” “ Hey, look at that , would you? ” said Papa Bear. “ I guess those Beavers do know how to have a little fun once in awhile.”

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Copyright © 1990 by Berenstains, Inc. The Berenstain Bears and character names are trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 978-1-4532-9428-4