Review - The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag

It's hard to believe that The Berenstain Bears franchise started in 1962 and now has over 300 titles with 260 million copies sold in 23 languages! Sadly, the creators, Stan and Jan Berenstain, have both passed away, but their son Mike Berenstain has continued to write and illustrate more books, which now have Christian themes.

The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag is one of the newest entries in the Living Light series. This tale finds Brother and Sister Bear starting a new habit - bragging and boasting about anything and everything they have done. Papa and Mama are annoyed by this and reminds them what the Bible says, "It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud," but Brother and Sister just continue on with their new bad habit.

One afternoon, Brother and Sister start bragging about the shapes and images they see in the clouds, resulting in an argument, well, that is until Grizzly Gramps happens to walk by and overhear the conversation. He quickly teaches the cubs how silly it is to brag and boast.

I grew up reading the older Berenstain books in the late 80s, though I'm now an adult, I have been reading a few of the newer books. While the older titles did have family-friendly plots, the newer ones have Christian themes in them, which isn't a bad thing, but sometimes it can feel a little forced. Unfortunately, the ending of this title does feel forced as there is no way that Brother and Sister would change their habits that quickly. I'm not saying that it is a bad book as I do think that younger kids will still enjoy the tale. I just hope that future Berenstain books will be better written.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.



About the Author:

Mike Berenstain grew up watching his parents, Stan and Jan, working together to write and draw these lovable bears. Eventually he started drawing and writing about them too.