Kindness Counts

The Berenstain Bears

by Jan Berenstain, Mike Berenstain

Teaching your child about kindness can be challenging. In this addition to the Living Lights™ series of Berenstain Bears books, young readers will learn how to treat others with kindness. Children will discover ways to implement traditional values and share God’s goodness.

The Berenstain Kindness Counts—part of the popular Zonderkidz Living Lights™ series of books—is perfect

Early readers, ages 4-8Reading out loud at home or in a classroomStarting conversations with children about kindness, generosity, and graceThe Berenstain Kindness

Features the hand-drawn artwork of the Berenstain familyContinues in the much-loved footsteps of Stan and Jan Berenstain with the Berenstain Bears series of booksIs part of one of the bestselling children’s book series ever created, with more than 250 books published and nearly 300 million copies sold to date

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Kids, Animals

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 27, 2010

About the author

Stan 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.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for my toddler’s bedtime. Brother bear liked to build model airplanes. His dad taught him so when a little boy bear named Billy came along and wanted to learn from him, he decided to help. Billy crashed his airplane but he had a good attitude about it. He allowed Billy to help him fixed it. Later there was a group of big bears launching rockets and he wanted to be part of it. They at first rejected him because he was too young for it but one guy from the group decided to be nice to brother bear because he was nice to his cousin Billy.

Read from kindle unlimited.

[Amara Tanith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kindness Counts is an installment in the Berenstain Bear's Living Lights line. And the Living Lights line is a mindbogglingly nonsensical and oftentimes offensive bundle of shit.

Stan Berenstain was a Jew. His wife, Jan, was an Episcopalian (Christian). Hence the reason religion was not part of the Berenstain Bears for many, many years.

Right up until Stan died. At that point, his son Mike took his place as partner to his mother... and promptly shoehorned a "Christian" moral into every goddamned thing ever. Makes me wonder how his Jewish father would react.

The Living Lights line, then, is the center of this explosion of Christianity into the series. There is so much wrong with this, I hardly know where to start.

If you want to read your children Christian-themed books, go for it. If Mike Berenstain wants to write Christian-themed books, he should go for it, too. What he should not be doing is redefining a decades-old and much beloved series, shoehorning religion into a setting where it has never been and does not belong, and thus excluding vast percentages of the population. Did he stop to think about the Jewish fans of the Berenstain Bears? The Pagan fans? The athiest, antitheist, or agnostic fans? The Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist fans? The [insert other religion, spirituality, or philosophy here] fans? I'm thinking he didn't, or else he just didn't care.

If you want to teach Christianity as a religion, go for it. The Living Lights series endeavors to teach aspects of Christianity to children, and that's totally cool. If that's your deal, go for it. The Living Lights series has The Berenstsain Bears: God Loves You!, The Berenstain Bears Go to Sunday School, The Berenstain Bears Say Their Prayers, The Berenstain Bears Discover God's Creation, The Berenstain Bears Show God's Love, Berenstain Bears Storybook Bible, and The Berenstain Bears: Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple, among others, to suit all your at-home worship needs.

If you want to teach people lessons about kindness, friendship, hard work and perseverance, community involvement, and the like, go for it...

But don't tell put those lessons under the heading "Christian". Those are not "Christian" morals. The lesson of not being an asshole has nothing whatsoever to do with the Abrahamic god, the Hindu gods, the Greek gods, or any other god, spirit, or entity that humanity has ever worshiped. To imply that kindness and community are somehow "Christian" in nature is to imply that non-Christians lack these morals or traits, and that can be described as nothing other than offensive.

For decades, the Berenstain Bears didn't have a problem with this. Sure, I disagreed with quite a number of their morals, finding them laughably stereotypical, condescending, and/or overly simplified. But they were morals that encompass their audience as a heterogeneous culture, not a homogeneous creed. They didn't seek to exclude anyone or to address any one group specifically. And they certainly didn't subtly imply that one group is somehow morally superior to everyone else that has ever existed.

The Living Lights series, or at least the half that isn't directly dealing with the Abrahamic god or Christian worship, is downright rude. So here's an FYI: "Kindness Counts" for all people, not just the people who worship your particular deity or read your particular religious text.

[Aneesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written by the son of the original Berenstains. Be warned: there is a Bible verse in the middle of the story. Which makes it an odd choice for a kindergarten teacher to give for a birthday gift.

But, one thing I noticed about the old series is how many examples of bad behavior they introduce before a quick lesson. I've read that little kids don't pick up on that kind of structure and instead tend to learn how not to behave. In this one, all the characters do the right thing the first time and it works out great!

[Carrie Au-yeung · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Book

I like how Brother Bear is sharing with a bear younger than him, and I like how the rocket club lets Brother Bear help. - from a 6 year-old girl from Minnesota

[Mavis’s Dad · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re kind to others, good karma will work out and people will be kind to you. That is the lie told by Brother Bear and the Barenatains in this oh-so cute narrative.

Moral: It’s right there in the title.

Length: Everybody was so kind and loving in this tall tale; it dragged on longer than the Gospel according to Matthew.

Favorite Line: “But he remembered how Papa always let him help out when they were building and flying model planes. That’s how he learned - by helping Papa.”

Overall impression: Brother Bear takes a youngster under his wings to teach him how to fly a model airplane. It crashes, but Brother Bear is so kind and forgiving, he continues to teach him. And just like it says in the good book, his kindness is rewarded by an older bear who teaches him how to fly a rocket. If that sounds boring to you, you’d be right. However, it is refreshing to see a story where the characters are kind and not cutting corners. But this is almost too sugar-coated if I’m being honest. The reality is nice guys do finish last and they’re typically taken advantage of in a society that preys upon kindness (at least until they’re in their 40s) and Brother Bear should have learned that lesson in this book instead.

[Ifueko Ogbomo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully brilliant book!

I don't have kids but as a storyteller, I often narrate stories for kids. I loved reading this. An eloquent, effortlessly told tale about one of life's greatest lessons: kindness. Also loved the vibrant illustrations, especially the foundational verse of scripture featured as a picture on the bears' wall! #brilliant

Kindness Counts was my introduction to the Berenstein Bears/Living Lights series and I can see why the series became so popular! If you have kids ages 4-8, I highly recommend the series.

[Lynnette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical berenstain bears book. I don't mind books that overtly teach morals, but when they start connecting them to Bible verses I think it's important that the verse is not be taking out of context. With this, it seems almost like they were teaching karma. Basically, if you do something nice other people will be nice to you. That is not always true and that is not what motivates us to be kind to people. True love is self-sacrificing.

[Gia Bittner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story teaches the lesson that we should always be kind to others. It’s sweet, but I’m not sure I like the insinuation that we should be kind “because kindness always comes back to us.” Why not be kind for kindness’ sake? 🤔
-Mama

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naturally I despised the unnecessary religious overtones but I admittedly liked the story and overall message.

[Jacelynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so sweet. It shows the a beautiful relationship between the older mentoring the younger. It also shows how a little grace and kindness can go along way.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a good lesson to learn and teach.

[Kalli Taub · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t prepared for bible thumping with my toddler

[Sashurna🪷 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book with important message I enjoy reading it to my daughter.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brother Bear shows kindness to a younger cub, and his kindness comes back around to him.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seems to me to be teaching something more akin to karma than true biblical doctrine regarding kindness.

[Margaret Chind · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this one in the new 5-in-1 The Berenstain Bears Follow God's Word.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." - Matthew 25:40

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brother Bear loves to make airplane models and a younger bear called Billy shows an interest in helping him. Brother agrees to teach Billy what he knows and finds it rewarding to watch how much happiness he is giving his young friend. Billy decides to help out and give Brother a treat of his own.

[Bridgette · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to read this to my younger cousins

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brother bear is kind by letting a young cub help him with his model plane and in return Brother Bear is rewarded by kindness from other older cubs.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this book because it teaches an important lesson to children. The characters are easy to relate to. I really enjoy the illustrations

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes along with the idea that we are all called to mentor others. Brother reaches out to young Billy, and in turn Billy's cousin reaches out to Brother.

[K.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

C

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brother Bear becomes a member of the Bear Country Rocket Club thanks to a little kindness from Billy.

[Mari]

Brother was nice to a little cub and let him help, so the older group was kind and let Brother help them.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chance upon a box set of Bernstain Bears (childhood favorite) in a catalogue - but this series is religious! What a scandal. It was really fun to read this first one, which quoted/referenced the Bible a few times. It was a bit cut and dry, but it was nice to read a children's book with a value taught.