The Berenstain Bears & Too Much Junk Food

The fact that anyone was offended by this book and labeled it as “body shaming” is absurd and gives me great concern for the future of our country and the generation of children these reviewers are raising. This book does a wonderful job of explaining to young children why they should not eat junk food and should instead eat nutritious foods and exercise. Some reviewers pointed out a particular section, in which the mother calls the bears chubby, as offensive and detrimental to children’s body image. Frankly, this argument is ridiculous and it’s distressing that this book is being labeled as offensive and “cancelled”, when it should be heralded as required reading for children. The mother does point out the fact that the bears are getting chubbier, and this is the impetus for putting her children (and husband) on a diet, but this part is just one very small and benign part of the story. Further, it’s not wrong to teach children that they should not want to be fat! Being fat is not a good thing and it causes very negative, life-long health problems when developed during childhood. When did people’s overblown sensitivities take precedence over providing truthful information? Obesity is an enormous problem in our society and the cost of treating the health conditions that come with obesity literally gobble up billions of dollars a year that could otherwise go to other resources, like better public schools, stronger infrastructure, and better social programs. Not to mention, you feel better when you eat healthy and exercise and you feel poorly when you eat poorly and sit around all day! This book espouses common sense eating and lifestyle habits that every child (and adult) should follow. I highly recommend this book and my child absolutely loves it!

I ordered this book because I wanted something to help me with teaching my four-year-old about “sometimes foods.” I wanted something that promoted moderation with treats and the importance of healthy foods for growing bodies. Clearly I should have done more research. This book does not promote moderation or good health. It promotes body shaming and the importance of being thin. The mom doesn’t give the junk food a second thought until she notices her kids getting fat and becomes completely disgusted with them. She takes them to the doctor who agrees that they are fat and disgusting and even pinches the dad’s stomach fat (boundaries?!?!) to shame him for his weight as well. So they all get put on an exercise regimen (to be clear - the kids have to work out to lose weight, there’s nothing here about kids just playing and exercising because it’s fun) and a permanent diet. And they all got to a socially acceptable weight and never ate junk food again. The end. I threw this book in the trash. Please don’t buy it.

I remembered this from childhood and bought it for my daughter who has a sweet tooth, hoping to help steer her toward healthy snacks. As I was reading to her I had to skip a lot of parts that seemed to focus on weight and the cubs looking big - I didn’t like the focus on their bodies, rather than health. My husband read it to her and didn’t edit, and later I broke out in a cold sweat when I saw my 3 yo looking dismayed and pinching her little baby tummy like the doctor does to papa bear!!! I struggled with body image and had brushes with anorexia as a teen and young adult, and I do NOT want to plant those seeds in my daughter’s mind at such a young age! We won’t be reading this again. We can work on healthy eating without the body shaming.

I bought this for my son (3 yrs.) to curb his poor eating habits before they truly get started. This turned out to be one of his favorite Berenstain Bears books. He loves the section where they examine each system within the body at the doctor's office, like the nervous system and the organs, and how good food affects each of these systems. He still enjoys his junk food, but he's not super crazy about it like the kids in this book are.

I bought this to share with my children ages 3 & 7 yrs and they love it just as much as I remember loving it. It's definitely nice to be able to share these types of things with them. There's always a good lesson in each of these books as well.

Perfect timing because she went to the dentist today for the first time. So now she can read about what all that junk food can do to her teeth.

This book by far is my most memorable and favorite book as a child. I only wish I had saved it, but I have repurchased this book to read to my son. The pictures are captivating and the storyline is entertaining. And it really is a life lesson that plagues families today. Great story 5 out of 5

All of the Berenstain books are so informative,educational, and most of all they are based upon Christian values. My 9 year old loves them all, he even watches their shows on YouTube😊I hope this helps someone

My favorite children's book! The illustrations are delightful and the message is easy for children to understand.

Love the Berenstein Bears! A classic! I had this when I was a kid and now my daughter loves it too. Love the morals in these stories.

The fact that anyone was offended by this book and labeled it as “body shaming” is absurd and gives me great concern for the future of our country and the generation of children these reviewers are raising. This book does a wonderful job of explaining to young children why they should not eat junk food and should instead eat nutritious foods and exercise. Some reviewers pointed out a particular section, in which the mother calls the bears chubby, as offensive and detrimental to children’s body image. Frankly, this argument is ridiculous and it’s distressing that this book is being labeled as offensive and “cancelled”, when it should be heralded as required reading for children. The mother does point out the fact that the bears are getting chubbier, and this is the impetus for putting her children (and husband) on a diet, but this part is just one very small and benign part of the story. Further, it’s not wrong to teach children that they should not want to be fat! Being fat is not a good thing and it causes very negative, life-long health problems when developed during childhood. When did people’s overblown sensitivities take precedence over providing truthful information? Obesity is an enormous problem in our society and the cost of treating the health conditions that come with obesity literally gobble up billions of dollars a year that could otherwise go to other resources, like better public schools, stronger infrastructure, and better social programs. Not to mention, you feel better when you eat healthy and exercise and you feel poorly when you eat poorly and sit around all day! This book espouses common sense eating and lifestyle habits that every child (and adult) should follow. I highly recommend this book and my child absolutely loves it!

I ordered this book because I wanted something to help me with teaching my four-year-old about “sometimes foods.” I wanted something that promoted moderation with treats and the importance of healthy foods for growing bodies. Clearly I should have done more research. This book does not promote moderation or good health. It promotes body shaming and the importance of being thin. The mom doesn’t give the junk food a second thought until she notices her kids getting fat and becomes completely disgusted with them. She takes them to the doctor who agrees that they are fat and disgusting and even pinches the dad’s stomach fat (boundaries?!?!) to shame him for his weight as well. So they all get put on an exercise regimen (to be clear - the kids have to work out to lose weight, there’s nothing here about kids just playing and exercising because it’s fun) and a permanent diet. And they all got to a socially acceptable weight and never ate junk food again. The end. I threw this book in the trash. Please don’t buy it.

I remembered this from childhood and bought it for my daughter who has a sweet tooth, hoping to help steer her toward healthy snacks. As I was reading to her I had to skip a lot of parts that seemed to focus on weight and the cubs looking big - I didn’t like the focus on their bodies, rather than health. My husband read it to her and didn’t edit, and later I broke out in a cold sweat when I saw my 3 yo looking dismayed and pinching her little baby tummy like the doctor does to papa bear!!! I struggled with body image and had brushes with anorexia as a teen and young adult, and I do NOT want to plant those seeds in my daughter’s mind at such a young age! We won’t be reading this again. We can work on healthy eating without the body shaming.

I bought this for my son (3 yrs.) to curb his poor eating habits before they truly get started. This turned out to be one of his favorite Berenstain Bears books. He loves the section where they examine each system within the body at the doctor's office, like the nervous system and the organs, and how good food affects each of these systems. He still enjoys his junk food, but he's not super crazy about it like the kids in this book are.

I bought this to share with my children ages 3 & 7 yrs and they love it just as much as I remember loving it. It's definitely nice to be able to share these types of things with them. There's always a good lesson in each of these books as well.

Perfect timing because she went to the dentist today for the first time. So now she can read about what all that junk food can do to her teeth.

This book by far is my most memorable and favorite book as a child. I only wish I had saved it, but I have repurchased this book to read to my son. The pictures are captivating and the storyline is entertaining. And it really is a life lesson that plagues families today. Great story 5 out of 5

All of the Berenstain books are so informative,educational, and most of all they are based upon Christian values. My 9 year old loves them all, he even watches their shows on YouTube😊I hope this helps someone

My favorite children's book! The illustrations are delightful and the message is easy for children to understand.

Love the Berenstein Bears! A classic! I had this when I was a kid and now my daughter loves it too. Love the morals in these stories.

Helped teach the kiddos about why we should eat healthy and exercise. They liked the pictures of the body that the doctor shows the family.

I tutor for World Vision. I love using this book with the kids. ALL kids love Berenstain Bears. Since this lesson on not having junk food but rather healthy and good for you food is so necessary. It is well done with great pictures. The kids all love this book!

For whatever reason, my kid wanted this book and has been requesting I read it to her nightly. She actually applies the lessons in the book to her snacking, so I am a huge fan.

My daughter couldn't afford to buy my grand kids books and they love reading. I am not able to do a lot of "extra spending" either but want the children to love books like I do and have the opportunity to have some. I was so glad to find these and at such a wonderful price. I was able to get the kids each several books of their own and they were so glad to get them to! Go Nanny!!! I will be buying some more for them too!!

My 2yr old picks this off the bookshelf All The Time! ....it was all fun and games until he started punching our fat rolls like the dr does to papa bear lol This teaches a great lesson, and the stickers are a wonderful add! My son gets to pick One sticker each time we read it, Genius lol

For some reason, my daughter (2,5 years old) absolutely loves the Berenstain Bears. She has plenty of fancier children's books--hardcover, with artsier illustrations, pop-up 3-D art, embedded puppets etc. But the ones that she goes back to time and again are those in the Berenstain Bears series. They are relatable (which I guess it's their intention), and refer to many situations and objects that she encounters everyday. She loves all the characters and each illustration is always full of so much detail that we can spend hours describing and talking about all the big and little figures on each page. Her favorites so far are this one on Junk Food and the one about the Bedtime Battle. I am super glad that these are so affordable, because I'll definitely buy many more for her. Although they have suffered the wear-and-tear of daily use (literally pages falling apart), I can replace them easily if necessary.

This book is a family favorite!

Helped my 2 year old learn about junk food. She was amused

I bought this book for my daughter because she loves the Berenstain Bears. I had is as a kid, this book is great for talking about good eating habits.

I grew up on these books, and now my kids love them!

This series was my favorite as a kid and I enjoy reading these stories to my daughter. This story talks about the role of food in your body and even has "x-rays" of a bear skeleton and digestive system with the food pyramid. It also stresses the importance of exercise.

This was one of my most favorite books as a child, and now I'm reading these to my kids in school! They constantly ask for the Berenstain Bears books and love to here these stories!

our family has always loved these books, i like that they made a series as well but sometimes is nice to just snuggle up with the little ones and read these. one of the more fun ones to read to the kids

I am not a huge fan of this book, but my daughter LOVES it, so I am giving it 5 stars. She refused to try a sticky bun tonight because 'it's junk food', so I appreciate that (we mostly eat healthy around here). I just hope that she never points at anyone out in public and says something like "they eat way too much junk food".

The is a wonderful children’s book about the bear family that takes back there healthy habits after being stuck in a rut of unhealthy ones. Great for encouraging young ones to be healthy!

Thank you for the fast shipping and lovely gift.

Great book, saw this at the peds office and as a personal trainer I loved this message about how the body depends on great nutrition. Great book for all ages. Lots of great talking points.

The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food was used in teaching my first grade class about healthy eating habits. I'm an educator who just loves to incorporate literature with my lessons. This is a great, detailed story about how one should eat healthy and take care of themselves. I would recommend this book to parents, teachers, and children. The seller sold me the book at a more than reasonable price, the book arrived promptly, and my copy of the book came in wonderful condition.

Perfect story message and fun to read

I used to read this one as a child and I felt that it helped me learn about proper nutrition. I just got to read it to my daughter tonight and she has been asking questions about what is good for her to eat or not!

I am a director of a Christian based children's club, and use these books as part of our program requirements. Good pictures are a must. Love it.

I bought this book purely out of nostalgia for my child-hood reading. As a kid, I remember seeing the vivid pages of candy and was upset to find that this was not one of the books I had saved into adulthood. Good thing for Amazon!

I got this for my 5 year old nephew. He loves reading the Berenstain Bears at bedtime. They are great books to read with your child and always have a lesson with the story without being preachy. A timeless classic.

Classic book to have for children. Great paperback quality. Always a fun read!

This is one of my favorite Berenstain books! I use it to teach healthy eating habits to my second graders. It makes a good introduction to the lesson.

I use this book for my nutrient lesson plan for teaching. Great book to get the conversation started with kids.

One of my favorite books growing up. Loved the drawings of the junk food.

Adorable! I love it!!

Great, informative book.

Love this breaks!! Great price. Great lessons.

Perfect! I bought this to use for a lesson in my classroom on why it's important to eat healthy foods. It was exactly what I needed!

Son likes it, no complaints.

This book helped put a funny spin on the cause & effect on eating too much junk food. It really got my kids energized about eating good healthy foods and cutting out the junk.

My three-year old son loves the Berenstein Bears so I decided to buy him this book and teach him not to eat so much junk food. The book is very colorful and my son gets the message after reading the book a few times. So now when his daddy buys chips and other junk food home to eat by himself, my son would happily chastise him for eating junk food because it is bad for us to eat it! :-)

I loved these books growing up and I wanted my kids to have some of them too. My 4 year old loves the junk food book. She likes looking at all the junk and asking me what it is. Hopefully she will get the message of the book, that too much junk is bad for you!

I love these children's books. Teaches children great morals!!!! Now my grandson is being taught these great morals. I love these berenstain bear books

The Berenstain Bears books teach valuable lessons in a fun way. My daughter grew up on these books and still remembers them as an adult. I'm now sending them to neices and nephews and sharing the fun. So far the kids (3-6 years old) are loving them.

I like the Berenstain Bears and this one is great to explain the basics of poor diet. It just goes over the basic idea that junk food is bad.

Books, you can never have too many books. Especially in a school setting. School, classroom and home.....the more the better

My children love the Berenstain Bears. They always have a good message. The always look on the back to see what new book they want to read next.

My little one used to love junk food and candies before we purchased this book. Love that kids can relate to the story.

My kids love this book - how the body works and why too much junk food is a bad idea.

I love each and every one of these books. I read them to my children, now to my grandchildren!

When my own kids were small we had a huge collection of Berenstain Bear books that they loved, including this one. Now I have a couple of grandsons who don't have the best eating habits. I bought this as much for their mother as I did for them. The whole family is eating better now. As with all the Berenstain Bear books it makes its point without being preachy.

My 3 year old grandson loves the Berenstain Bears series. They all have a great message and are fun to read.

Good book, good description of the book's used condition, great price. BB books are very popular with my boy and his school

My favorite Berenstain Bears story growing up. LOVE it.

My daughter really enjoyed the story. Quoted a few things from the story a few days later.

I loved reading these when I was a youngin and I love that I am now reading it to my baby! I like how mommy is the smart one lol! I would recommend this book to everyone. Even people without kids :)

A good book to read to your love ones.

I love that these books teach kids lessons that they don't mind learning! They do it in a way were kids want to learn valuable lessons

This book, and Gregory the Terrible Eater, are such classics for my kids, now ages 15-30, that I had to get a new copy!

Just what our four year old sweet eater needed to hear He ask me to read it again

My 3 year old daughter and I love this and it gets the point across. My daughter goes to her Fathers on the weekends and is fed soda, chocolate milk, Gatorade, store bought juice, chocolate anything, gummy worms, pizza, etc. So I substitute such poor food choices into the reading and she understands that those foods are unhealthy. We enjoy reading this book because it's fun with good characters and always with a lesson (as long as it's written by Stan and Jan Berenstain).

Great learning and discussion book

My grandson loves the Berenstain Bear books and it was in extremely good condition

Cute! It made my 5 yr. old grandson reassess what he was eating.

I remember being read these when I was younger so I couldn't see not having them to read to my daughter.

When I was a child, I loved reading Berenstain Bear books and kept many of them to pass down to my kids. I was thrilled when my 5 year old son began reading. I give these to him and he loves them! This was one of the books that I did not have in my collection so I wanted to add it for him so he would have a new one to read. They are easy reads for little ones and they are not hard back making it easier for little ones to hold. Love the books!!

A classic. We love this one!

Great series of books, was bought to replace one I had lost! Used it for reminding kids to eat better

Always loved these as a child. They worked out great as a gift, thanks!

I love it because it tells that juck food isn't good for you and it teaches people how to eat healthy food.

One of my childhood favorites! Excited to pass it on to my son!

present for my daughter. cute book that teaches about junk food

There's stickers in here too!

We read and reference this book all the time.

Our daughter loves it. We read with her every night and she always goes for the Berenstain Bears.

I am a child of the 80's, so there is a very special, nostalgiac place in my heart for Berenstain Bears books. I have been buying several books from this series for my toddler, who enjoys looking at the back cover and picking out other ones she wants next. She zeroed in on the junk food one, so....I bought this one without remembering much of the content, and I've gotta say, the content of this book may have been appropriate in the 80's (maybe not!), but for 2018, this book is inappropriate. Mama Bear measures her kids and sort of fat shames them into eating "healthy". Listen, I'm not one of these crazy PC people, but the content of this is just not appropriate. Healthy foods touted by Mama include carrots, raisins and FROZEN YOGURT at the mall (how very 80s and 90s)! I was surprised Mama didn't just wire all their mouths shut; would have been easier. Anyway, many of the Bears books are timeless (e.g. Messy Room), but this one needs to go into the NO section.

Everybody loves Berenstein Bears !

This was a great read aloud book for my food unit.

My son loves these books!

love it

Great book for kids!

love it

My kids love this book and they loved to go to the store with me, this is a great way to help our children to see that the foods we most often want are the ones that are not good or healthy

Great books!

I grew up reading The Berenstain Bears. Too Much Junk Food was always my favorite! Now I am 27 and have my own child and I can't wait to be able to read this to him when he's old enough to listen. Right now he only wants to eat the book. ;) If you have not read this book, get it for your little one! You will both love it.

timeless!

Our grandchildren love it.

Gift.

Stickers are nice touch

Great Book!

Book was perfect

Another good book

GOOD

My son now wants to eat healthy!

I thought long and hard and then discreetly made this book disappear when my son wasn't looking. It had good nutritional information, but also a lot of fat shaming. My son is normal weight, but I don't want my kids presented with anything that could lead to body shame of any kind. I've suffered with eating disorders and I know that road leads to nothing good. I want my kids to have healthy, normal relationships with food and their bodies.

great book for kids! came on time and will be great for all ages.love the bearenstien bears! a childhood favorite!

I loved this book for my children. It inspired them to eat more fruits and vegetables. Thanks Berenstain Bears!! This momma bear owes you! My children have been turning down junk food, which never would have happened without this book!

A great book at a great price. I enjoyed these books as a child, and now I enjoy reading them to my kids. They are a bit wordier than I remember though - so if you are looking for a short bedtime story or a book with few words in each page, this is not it.

fun book

love it

I remember this book from childhood and had to purchase it for my own children so I could warn them of the dangers of Too Much Junk Food-Berenstain Bears style. Even better in this version is the addition of stickers!!! Woo hoo!

The Berenstain Bears is a great Christian based series for kids. They teach a lot of lessons on Character in a way that engages kids and helps them in their everyday life.

grandchildren loved the book

Love this book for my 3 year old and great for conversation on healthy foods.

This book is absolutely amazing! I read it to my claas of year 2s and 3s while on prac and they loved it..very good for health lessons as it is entertaining as well as informative :D

Enlarged some of the pictures easier to see when reading to a group. Actually brought in big pair of pants with rip for Papa ripping his pants used end part of book to make hand out to match health foods.

My granddaughter said, this story reminds her about herself!

Simply cut out the offensive page of this book yourself ( the fat-shaming page that calls the cubs chubby several times), and you’ve got a winner! The story still makes perfect sense. Even with the offending page cut out, there is still one sentence where Mama first notices the cubs getting chubby. I just took one of the included stickers and covered up that sentence. I left in the part where the doctor pinches Papa’s belly fat. It’s funny. Kids like this book, but it contains insensitive, outdated 1980’s body image portrayals. I don’t want my young daughters to obsess over their body fat percentage, or call other kids “Chubby.” There’s lots of great stuff about how the body works and which healthy food helps each system. My 5-year-old loves it.

It inspired my kids (5yo and 7yo) to eat better - let's see how long it will last...

Excellent

Recommend to teach good things to your kids

cute book

Cute and good message

Great classic books. Can't beat the price!

Book was as expected. Brand new and looked good. Would buy from again.

We love the Berenstain Bears and have most of the books. I would caution you to skip this one. While I know the message they are trying to convey about health and nutrition, it talks about the kids getting “chubby” and grabbing Papa’s stomach to see the weight he has gained. It’s just a very outdated message and not the way I want to present health to my children. Just a heads up if this is something important to you as well!

The information this book provides is pretty amazing for children. I've only purchased one book for my small storage I have for my iPad, but this in my mind is worth every penny. As a masters student in health promotion, we talked a lot about nutrition and exercise, and this is a great overview on teaching kids the why not just because we say so. My son loves the Bernstein bears, but this one is to purchase I assure you moms out there. No dislikes here except for maybe more information on proper exercise habits, but that's the beauty of parenting I suppose. I get to teach that and why. Great read and highly recommend!

Love these books! Great for your kids! Teaches a lesson in every single book - might not be so bad if some of us adults could learn those lessons as well! These are great reads, no matter if you buy it new or grab a used copy. Enjoy!!

Doesn't really talk about the bad side of eating junk food except for the fact that it can make you fat....

I love these books but this one is different. I had to stop several times and explain what was inappropriate from mama and the doctor. And of course Papa doesn’t notice, leaving Mama Bear to be the household manager and fix her grown up husband. Barf. This one is going to “disappear”.

This always inspires my little one to eat healthier, and I'm not going to lie...it kindof inspires me too. :) We love this book!

My grandchildren love Berenstain Bears, so this was an easy choice. The pictures are fun to look at while reading a good lesson.

I loved the book it is very easy to be understood by a three years old kid and very interesting as well.

My kids loved this book, and are already looking for the next one to read. Great quality family time. M

i work for a nutrition program. This book will be used for preschool children.

Love it Great morals

Like all the books in this series it is appropriate for families, and it is still fun to read with the kids. I really love this book and the message it conveys.

Love the Berenstain Bears as a rule, but this one had some not so great choice of words (chubby). Didn't really like the way they portrayed junk food. And Papa as usual gets a bad rap. Wouldn't read this particular BB to my kids again.

My kids love it.

Great!

I cringed my way through reading this book. It was worse than I remembered. My kids and I are all thin, so it's not about feeling shamed (although I didn't like that part either). I just wish there was more focus on health, moderation, exercise, etc...

Gave this as a gift at a baby shower with a library theme. Mom loved it!!

Excellent! We loved it! Great book for kids of all ages. I highly recommend this series of books! Great story!

I think this book was published to get children to eat healthy Lauren seaford

I love these series. They were my favorite as a kid and I'm reading them to my kids hoping to get them into reading.

The story is great, and the message is even better. However, the story itself is too long and drawn out for a kid under 5 or 6 to sit through successfully, in my opinion. At one point, they Bear's doctor starts to go into the anatomy of the human body, which was a bit confusing and too much information for my three year old. She sat through the book, and we've read it multiple times, but I can tell that she does not comprehend the information being given at times, and often loses focus.

I like when Mama put all the junk in the freezer and said no more. This is a good book for kids who want to eat healthy food.

Loved this book as a kid! Now I can appreciate it as a parent. Food is fuel kids! Gotta eat the good stuff and it shows the transformation the familu goes thru.

I love These books. Helped talk to my 5yo about junk food. However, the kindle version is not so user friendly.

It teaches you what foods to eat. I liked that it included healthy foods AND exercise. I can't wait to read it again:)

Decent story for helping my kids understand about eating healthy

Cute classic with a good message

Perfect bedtime stories for the the grandkids. Lessons in life.

Very educational and interesting to read. We read this book regularly before going to bed. We have many more such books.

A good message presented in a good way. Are you really ready to purge your home of all the chips and candy? Think about it before you put your children on "junk food" patrol.

Wonderful book to teach healthy habits to young children. My four year old really enjoyed the book and took valuable lessons from it

My 3 year old daughter loves all the Bernstein Bears books. This is one of her favorite.

The shipping was quick. Excellent customer service. Great product condition. Thank you for a wonderful christmas gift for my friend who is a new school guidance counselor.

This book brought back my childhood. Helped me remember all of the good things I used to do when I was younger

My son loves theis book and I feel like it communicates a good message. Since I had many of the bernstein bears books when I was a kid they are enjoyable for me as well... which is good since I had to read it about 7 nights in a row immediately after we received it.

Love this book! It's a great book for all ages! Short book to read for the older kids who don't like to read!

The kids really like the book and are now trying to incorporate healthy eating habits.

I have always loved the Berenstain Bears to teach the younger kids valuable lessons. The stories are always entertaining and the messages are easy to swallow. Another great example!

We love these books HOWEVER, this one is not it. The language used is a bit much in my opinion for kids. Referring to the kids as chubby and the Dr pinching the dads sides to show his extra weight he has put on. Don't waste your money on this one.

They gave me a copy that wasn’t cut right. Wanted to get more books but now I’m not sure it’s a good idea. The other books were fine. Very sad about this though

my5 yr old liked it. It does the job.

Girls love these books. Good lessons taught in a fun way

Death and I don't think you are the same as those of us in a few hours and hours and literally the graveyard of world records in fact is the graveyard of the mammoth halo and literally the mammoth halo and a half day of school is the mammoth task to get to work in a few hours and I don't think you can see it as well but the mammoth halo and a half day of school is that

It's a great book!! I loved the Berenstain Bears books as a kid

It's ok, but not our favorite.

This book had potential but then it started talking about kids getting fat. Let's not focus on weight, but health!

A little bit of fat shaming, probably not PC, but a good book. I like the doctor's slideshow explanation of our bodies inside.

I am a bit disappointed. I wish this book focused a bit more on being healthy than getting chubby. We want to encourage healthy eating habits for health reasons- not eating disorders. I don't think that teaching little kids they will get fat is really the way we want to go- to instill at such an early age. I will use this book with my preschoolers, but I will 'edit' it a bit to focus more on good health and energy rather than getting cubby.

son likes it

I read the Berenstain Bears as a kid and liked them, so I bought a few for my son. However, many of them (including this one) have the same theme: Dad and the kids are doing something wrong. Mom (the only good one) tries to make them change. The kids do great, but Dad's a selfish idiot with no self-control who needs to be constantly corrected by the rest of the family. Why has the meme from sitcoms reached into children's books? It wouldn't be offensive if it wasn't repeated in multiple books with completely different stories (junk food, manners, etc.).

We have a bunch of the Berenstain Bears books and I like the message in the ones we have except this one! I am very disappointed in the numerous references to the cubs and Papa Bear's size rather than focusing only on eating well for your health. If the fat shaming parts were left out it would be a good book. I read it to my daughter, but had to revise it on multiple pages....I do not want to encourage any focus on weight and introduce any body image issues to my daughter. Society will expose children enough in their lifetime with these issues I don't want to introduce it in a children's book. I would rather present books that focus on eating well to be healthy, have good energy and endurance and to live a long happy life. On one page there are pictures of the cubs looking "chubbier" "Yes, they were chubbier from the side...they were chubbier from the front... and from the back..." The Dr. in the book had good advice, but then pinches Papa's fat...that's not behavior I want my daughter to copy.... In reference to sugary foods Dr. Grizzly, says "..Instead of helping build and strengthen our bodies, they just pile up as extra fat-like this!' She took a pinch of Papa's waist and got quite a handful." Wish these parts were left out. I'd really like the book if they were.

I grew up with this series of books and loved them as a child. One has to keep in mind that times have changed, and certain topics - such as body image are handled a little more sensitively these days. The books are entertaining and written with humor, and the overall message in this book is a good one. However I wish there was less talk about getting "chubby" and more focus on the benefits of eating healthy food and the overall impacts junk food has (less energy, cavities, etc.).

Terrible book! Mean and body shaming. I've hidden it away!

So disappointed. The book stresses the cubs' overweight appearance instead of health. What a terrible message to send to children.

I am such a huge fan of these books and movies but i tossed this one in the trash! it has the worst message ever. rather than talking about how healthy food gives you more energy and to enjoy everything in moderation it taks about the cubs being fat and that is the reason they should eat better. So far this is the only bear book i have absolutely hated. total disappointment.

This book is kinda like a lesson for kids about having a clean room. You and your thing should always be organized

This book has a lot of body shaming and unhealthy messages. I'm recycling it.

My father used to read the Berenstain Bears books to me all the time when I was little, and this was one of our favorites, along with "Get the Gimmes," "Meet Santa Bear" and "Too Much Teasing." I think that making this particular TBB book a must - read was a conscious decision on my father's part, since he has always been very much in favor of healthy life choices and exercising moderation when it comes to junk food! I have to say I really cannot understand the complaints that other customers have raised about these books, bcuz I never took anything bad away from them - indeed, I plan to share these books with my future children! I never really thought about this until I read another customer's review...it does indeed seem odd that Mama Bear would announce that all the junk food is going in the freezer section of the fridge. I mean, if I'd been in that situation as a little kid, my reaction to that would have been, "Hey, thanks, mom! Now all I need is one of the kitchen chairs and a stack of phone books to get my goodies back!" LOL! Oh, and about other customer's concerns about the fact that Papa Bear often behaves as immaturely as the cubs and never backs Mama Bear up - I'd recommend that you not be so quick to condemn that aspect of the series, bcuz there are some kids whose family dynamics resemble that...my family was one of them, LOL (my dad and I made a pretty good team, LOL)! So, for me, it just made the TBB books all the more relate - able! :)Not only that, but I also thought it was great fun to watch Papa Bear split the seat of his pants when he bends down to grab his bag of sweets...LOL! All in all, this another great TBB book in a long line of other ones, and I'd recommend it to anybody!

The world lost a real gem of a writer when Stan Berenstain passed on November 29. Together, Berenstain and his wife, Jan, and eventually their two sons, created books featuring lovable but flawed characters who tackle just about every real issue that faces families. This book is no exception. Most people, especially kids, have a tendency to overindulge when it comes to junk food. This book shows that eating healthy is a lifelong pursuit (Papa Bear has the same troubles that the kids have). It's not intended as a primer on nutrition or exercize habits, but rather as a fictional story intended to promote conversations among families about healthy lifestyles. And for what it is, it's wonderful.

Written and illustrated By Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1985) With delightfully detailed illustrations, this book educates the reader and/or listener about the importance of eating healthy and exercising to maintain a healthy body through a fun story of a family of bears. This book presents some information about how the digestive system works, which is an enjoyable discovery for children. Having been used to eating a lot of junk food, the bear family decides to make healthier diet and fitness choices, which help them to have healthier bodies. This book is truly a childhood classic and one that will be read for many years.

The focus on the chubby appearance of the cubs from all angles and papa bear’s fat bottom + flabby belly is simply not healthy. Focusing on appearance can lead to damaging and lasting shame -a negative feeling that can lead to overeating. Instead, the book should focus on fitness, on the body working well, on being able to do the fun things you like to do. It does that in one section but it’s buried as a minor detail in the midst of a multi-page description of our bodies’ organ/muscle/nerve systems. I would normally recommend just using your own words while reading the book, but some illustrations are difficult to explain away, such as when the doctor grabs a chunk of papa bear’s flabby belly. Or for example, how papa bear splits his pants when bending over and stands around in his boxers while mama bear mends his pants. In addition, banning the junk foods makes them forbidden fruit. Again, it’s simply not the effective and helpful way to deal with these issues. The other outdated information is around sugar. Sugar is in nearly everything, including fruits, cereals, breads, milk, and yogurt. Putting a cap on sugar intake is extremely important and this book somewhat misleads people to think only junk food = sugar. More generally, I wish there was a discussion about what constitutes junk food. There are a ton of trash foods available to us that aren’t candy or snacks, that are disguised as healthy foods, such as most cereals and yogurts. Finally, I was shocked to see the Cubs being able to get food whenever they want, by themselves. I don’t even want to present this idea to my kids. We have three sit down meals and two snack times during which they have a choice between 2-3 items. On days that I can’t monitor their intake, I put out 2-3 snacks for each of them; they can choose when to eat them but if they run out, that’s it.