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The Berenstain Bears
The Bear Detectives
Papa Bear tries to solve the mystery of Farmer Ben's missing pumpkin.
42 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
146 people are currently reading
539 people want to read
About the author
Stan Berenstain
920 books702 followersStan and Jan Berenstain (often called The Berenstains) were American writers and illustrators best known for creating the children's book series the Berenstain Bears. Their son Mike Berenstain joined them as a creative team in the late 1980s.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
July 4, 2018
Another Bears story and this is the first one that rhymes that I can recall. The art is wonderful in this story. It is pure fun. A farmer is missing his prized pumpkin and the bears are on the case. Lucky the young bears know how to read because papa is a terrible detective. It is very funny. He does everything wrong. The culprit is caught at the end.
The kids had fun reading this and there was laughter and enjoyment with the story. This was a favorite and both gave this a 4. Usually the nephew will give the same number as his older sister, so she liked it, he did too.
The kids had fun reading this and there was laughter and enjoyment with the story. This was a favorite and both gave this a 4. Usually the nephew will give the same number as his older sister, so she liked it, he did too.
April 21, 2023
One of the more enjoyable Berenstain Bears books I've read in a long time. I love the rhyming.
March 1, 2020
The bear detectives set out to catch the thief that stole farmer Ben's prize winning pumpkin. Children will be especially delighted that it is the sensible little bears who solve the mystery while their father does everything wrong. Its full of easy rhymes which children will enjoy learning and hilarious situations. Effective use of text and illustrations makes this book a must for beginner readers.
November 6, 2021
One of the earlier Berenstain Bears books, this one is a delightful mystery. Who will solve the mystery first; Papa Bear or the Bear detectives?
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July 4, 2020Mr and Mrs Farmer Ben do not communicate well about pumpkins.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2023
Farmer Ben's prize winning pumpkin has disappeared and the bear detectives are on the case!
What's cute about this story is that the kids and dad do things their own way. Dad seems like a bungling goof ball and the kids are doing things by the book and somehow they still end up working together.
What's cute about this story is that the kids and dad do things their own way. Dad seems like a bungling goof ball and the kids are doing things by the book and somehow they still end up working together.
October 23, 2014
I enjoyed "The Bear Detectives" by Stan Berenstain because I like bears. The Berenstain Bears are a family of bears that decide that they will help Farmer Ben with his case of the missing pumpkin. Ben's first prize pumpkin went missing one day. The Bear Detectives will find the missing pumpkin. First the Berenstains run into a brown and white cow that Snuff, the family dog, lead them to. Next Papa Bear finds a trail and follows it right into the pig pen. Then they find the blue ribbon that was on the pumpkin at the fair. After all that Papa Bear follows a trail of pumpkin seeds to the barn. Then come to find out Farmer Ben's wife made pumpkin pies out of the pumpkin. For everyone's help they all got to eat pumpkin pie.
This story is told through third person point of view. Papa Bear's character doesn't change at all throughout the whole book. Papa Bear is always in a hurry to find the next clue. Papa Bear is a very helpful person in this story. He is helpful and kind throughout the story, helping Farmer Ben find his pumpkin.
This picture book would be appropriate for a very young kids. Readers from beginner to very experienced. This shows the message of teamwork and how if you work together you can solve problems. Parents can read with little children to show them how to work together to solve issues.
I give this book a four out of five stars. I enjoyed how the whole Berenstain family came together to help Farmer Ben find his prize winning pumpkin. This book shows what the term teamwork is and how it is effective.
This story is told through third person point of view. Papa Bear's character doesn't change at all throughout the whole book. Papa Bear is always in a hurry to find the next clue. Papa Bear is a very helpful person in this story. He is helpful and kind throughout the story, helping Farmer Ben find his pumpkin.
This picture book would be appropriate for a very young kids. Readers from beginner to very experienced. This shows the message of teamwork and how if you work together you can solve problems. Parents can read with little children to show them how to work together to solve issues.
I give this book a four out of five stars. I enjoyed how the whole Berenstain family came together to help Farmer Ben find his prize winning pumpkin. This book shows what the term teamwork is and how it is effective.
December 21, 2017
A pumpkin goes missing
3 August 2013
This is probably more comical than anything else because it is about a pumpkin that has gone missing and a group of young bears (using a detective handbook) and their father, using only his brain (or lack of it as one might suspect) go out in search of it. The problem is that because Papa Bear acts before thinking he tends to get himself caught up in a lot of trouble (such as landing in a pig pen or getting bailed up in some hay).
I'm not really sure if there is any real moral in this story, because once again it seems to have moved beyond basic functions of language to create more of a story than anything else. Maybe the idea in this book is not to be like Papa Bear, who automatically jumps to conclusions without actually questioning the evidence and making a more thorough examination of the scene. In fact the whole idea of there actually being a thief turns out to be wrong, because the pumpkin was never stolen, just reallocated to another place to be used by one of the rightful owners.
As such, we when are out looking for things, or trying to solve a puzzle, we need to not jump to conclusions (like Papa bear) but rather examine all of the facts and from those facts reach the best (and hopefully correct) conclusion.
3 August 2013
This is probably more comical than anything else because it is about a pumpkin that has gone missing and a group of young bears (using a detective handbook) and their father, using only his brain (or lack of it as one might suspect) go out in search of it. The problem is that because Papa Bear acts before thinking he tends to get himself caught up in a lot of trouble (such as landing in a pig pen or getting bailed up in some hay).
I'm not really sure if there is any real moral in this story, because once again it seems to have moved beyond basic functions of language to create more of a story than anything else. Maybe the idea in this book is not to be like Papa Bear, who automatically jumps to conclusions without actually questioning the evidence and making a more thorough examination of the scene. In fact the whole idea of there actually being a thief turns out to be wrong, because the pumpkin was never stolen, just reallocated to another place to be used by one of the rightful owners.
As such, we when are out looking for things, or trying to solve a puzzle, we need to not jump to conclusions (like Papa bear) but rather examine all of the facts and from those facts reach the best (and hopefully correct) conclusion.
July 27, 2017
When I was a child, this was my most very favorite book in the world! I still own it, but the spine of the cover is gone and it is obvious that this book was well LOVED!
I decided to borrow my library's copy and take a stroll down memory lane.
I decided to borrow my library's copy and take a stroll down memory lane.
December 26, 2024
I have memories of this one as well. Young detectives. But also a pretty early example of an incompetent father. The text is pretty clever. The rhyming actually works. And a twist ending. This one is actually fairly funny, if you ignore the bumbling dad.
January 28, 2020
I first read this book as a child and the rhyming was similar to the Dr. Seuss books but not quite the same level.
March 4, 2025
Great book, gotta follow directions
October 31, 2016
Papa Bear fails at being a detective.
It's another one of these old-style Berenstain Bear books where Papa Bear is trying to show people how to do something and failing at it. Just like the Bear Scouts book, Small Bear and his friends, who in this case are detectives, have a manual that they are following. Two of his friends are clearly girls, this time, as they are depicted wearing deerstalker caps with bows on them. Farmer Ben won a prize for a pumpkin, and he can't find it, so they're trying to find the thief who stole it. Papa Bear keeps finding random animals, and it turns out that the farmer's wife made it into a pie, and then they eat the pie, and everybody's happy.
This is better than some of the other books in that Papa Bear isn't getting mangled, and he's doing reasonable things. They just don't seem to actually lead to the answers. I'm not sure where the detectives got their book from. The book says, in its entirety: "First look around/for any TRACKS/that are on the ground", "Look all around/for another clue", "Before you leap,/be sure to look", and, "A good detective/will USE HIS NOSE!" Wow, that's a terribly useful book. Papa Bear has a dog, for crying out loud, that he seems to be trying to get to sniff the trail. So they are literally following their noses at the beginning and that doesn't lead to the answer. "A good detective/writes things down," says Papa Bear, and he writes down everywhere they fail to find anything. This leads to some repetition, which is not too annoying, but it is a good idea to write things down. He's not doing stupid things. He's doing the right kind of thing, just perhaps being a little overenthusiastic. At least he's supervising these small children who are pretending to be detectives, because they're probably too young to go wandering around by themselves (although if it takes place in the 70s, kids apparently used to do that kind of thing all the time). It's odd. It's just weird more than anything else. It's less irritating than most of the other Papa-Bear-is-an-idiot books. It's not really trying to say anything; it's just trying to be funny, and it's not doing a very good job.
The best part: “Hmmmmmm.../Ben's haystack/is another spot/where the pumpkin thief/is not.”
For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
It's another one of these old-style Berenstain Bear books where Papa Bear is trying to show people how to do something and failing at it. Just like the Bear Scouts book, Small Bear and his friends, who in this case are detectives, have a manual that they are following. Two of his friends are clearly girls, this time, as they are depicted wearing deerstalker caps with bows on them. Farmer Ben won a prize for a pumpkin, and he can't find it, so they're trying to find the thief who stole it. Papa Bear keeps finding random animals, and it turns out that the farmer's wife made it into a pie, and then they eat the pie, and everybody's happy.
This is better than some of the other books in that Papa Bear isn't getting mangled, and he's doing reasonable things. They just don't seem to actually lead to the answers. I'm not sure where the detectives got their book from. The book says, in its entirety: "First look around/for any TRACKS/that are on the ground", "Look all around/for another clue", "Before you leap,/be sure to look", and, "A good detective/will USE HIS NOSE!" Wow, that's a terribly useful book. Papa Bear has a dog, for crying out loud, that he seems to be trying to get to sniff the trail. So they are literally following their noses at the beginning and that doesn't lead to the answer. "A good detective/writes things down," says Papa Bear, and he writes down everywhere they fail to find anything. This leads to some repetition, which is not too annoying, but it is a good idea to write things down. He's not doing stupid things. He's doing the right kind of thing, just perhaps being a little overenthusiastic. At least he's supervising these small children who are pretending to be detectives, because they're probably too young to go wandering around by themselves (although if it takes place in the 70s, kids apparently used to do that kind of thing all the time). It's odd. It's just weird more than anything else. It's less irritating than most of the other Papa-Bear-is-an-idiot books. It's not really trying to say anything; it's just trying to be funny, and it's not doing a very good job.
The best part: “Hmmmmmm.../Ben's haystack/is another spot/where the pumpkin thief/is not.”
For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
November 28, 2013
This is a very good book; I like how it sounds when I read it. I enjoyed how the words rhyme and flow while being read. It has a very interesting plot of a mystery. With Bear detective pop trying so hard to find the missing pumpkin by himself. The little bear detectives have a book that says how to properly solve cases but detective pop will not listen and keeps thinking that other things are the pumpkin thief. This book makes me laugh. I find it funny because of detective pop. He jumps to conclusions thinking he has for sure caught the thief and each time he is wrong. First the dog catches a scent and then he finds out it is a cow then he jumps in a pig pen and tackles a scarecrow. It is amusing and can teach students the importance of books and reading directions. I would probably still not use this to teach students in schools because there are not a lot of lessons besides about reading, it is mainly for amusement.
April 3, 2009
This isn't a "Moral Lesson" Berenstain Bears book, it's an early reader.
As you might expect, Papa Bear does everything wrong, and the kids find the pumpkin thief. It's a pretty light read even for a beginning reader - some of the rhymes are a bit forced, and Papa's wrongheadedness is a little overexaggerated - attacking chickens?
But the kids like it, and it is simple for a beginning reader, and that's the important thing.
As you might expect, Papa Bear does everything wrong, and the kids find the pumpkin thief. It's a pretty light read even for a beginning reader - some of the rhymes are a bit forced, and Papa's wrongheadedness is a little overexaggerated - attacking chickens?
But the kids like it, and it is simple for a beginning reader, and that's the important thing.
May 10, 2018
We have always enjoyed books from The Berenstain Bears collection and this did not disappoint.
I admit I was a little worried when my son picked it out from the library because sometimes Berenstain Bears books can be quite lengthy but this was seemed to be an exception. There was a nice rhyme to the story about the missing pumpkin that made it quite easy to read aloud.
We will be looking for more Beginner Books that feature the Berenstain Bears in the future.
I admit I was a little worried when my son picked it out from the library because sometimes Berenstain Bears books can be quite lengthy but this was seemed to be an exception. There was a nice rhyme to the story about the missing pumpkin that made it quite easy to read aloud.
We will be looking for more Beginner Books that feature the Berenstain Bears in the future.
September 1, 2010
Papa Bear is back! I love the books where he tries to prove that he can do things better and always lands in trouble! The Bear Scouts are investigating the case of a missing pumpkin and are logically following the clues until Papa Bear blunders in and starts messing things up. Very funny.
January 17, 2012
This story is nice for age four to six years old. The words are basic enough for emergent readers. It counts the lessons that are learned from the detective work.This book can teach about stealing.Children will enjoy the silly story and detective work.
April 18, 2012
It as another funny book of the BB, the usual suspects however weren't interviewed or the book would only be a page long ;) Even so it's a good book to get children interested in crime solving stories.
July 4, 2018
The Bear Detectives are on the case trying to locate Farmer Ben's missing prize pumpkin. Well, they are trying to lead an investigation but Papa Bear has a habit of getting in the way. Fun read aloud or independent read for early readers.
April 28, 2013
★★★★The Berenstain Bears: The Bear Detectives by Stan Berenstain This one was was cute. It has Papa Bear and the Bear Scout looking for a missing pumpkin. As always Papa messing things up, while the Bear Scout follow the clues.
December 17, 2015
"The Bear Detectives:The Case Of The Missing Pumpkin" is a great addition to your "fall themed" reading. It has a case to be solved. Who took the pumpkin? Where can it be? Young readers will have great fun following along to help solve the case.
April 12, 2016
If a child is really into easy detective stories, they might like this. Very easy, looking for clues (except Papa Bear who just jumps to conclusions and come across as stupid), but mostly not too much in this book.
October 26, 2008
funny
December 14, 2008
This is a fun story, with the young ones practicing their detective skills and Papa bear getting himself into trouble, as always. Our girls really enjoyed this one.
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May 14, 2009JEAR2-Ber
June 10, 2009
I loved this book!! It took me a while to read it but it was great!!
January 24, 2011
My kids asked me to read this to them twice in a row. They thought it was really funny. Fun early reader.
August 21, 2016
My kids love all the Berenstain Bears books, and they don't realize there are important lessons in each story.
July 3, 2012
Cute and fun early reader book for a toddler.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews