The Berenstain Bears' Really Big Pet Show

The Berenstain Bears

by Jan Berenstain, Mike Berenstain

Hooray! There's going to be a pet show at the Bear Town Festival this year. The Bear family makes sure all their pets—Little Lady, Gracie, Swish, and their new bird, Keats—look and feel their best for the big day. Who will Mayor Honeypot give prize ribbons to?

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

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

[♥ Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as a story, this is a great book for little pet lovers. To that end, it works. However I am not fond of how easy they make owning a pet seem... they gloss over it.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Berenstain Bears get a pet bird they call "Keats" which somehow leads to the entire community having a great big pet show that feels an awful lot like their other book about a pet show.

I think Keats says more than Honey does in all the books combined so far.

[Little Champs]

2823

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great thank you

[Cherish Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4☆ Would recommend)
The Berenstain Bears is such a great classic. I've always enjoyed how each story has a lesson that it is trying to teach kids.

[Cassandra Gelvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

All pets are equal, but some are more equal than others.

If nobody is the winner, isn't everybody the loser?

If I didn't know better, I would think they were intending to write something about the "entitlement generation." Because, seriously, that's what this turns out to be. "I can't decide who is the best! Everybody gets a prize!"

The family has pets. They go to the pet store. They buy a parakeet. The parakeet can talk. I haven't had that experience with parakeets, but I've heard it's possible. They have so many pets in their house at that point, that Mama, the chairwoman of the Beartown Festival Committee, brings up the idea of a pet show at her next meeting. They decide to put on a pet show, and everybody brings pets.

The mayor is the judge. In what seems to me an obvious bid to secure his re-election, he decides that "all the pets here are very, very special" and "they all should receive a ribbon!" So everybody gets a ribbon. And then the parakeet, which they thought was male, lays an egg. Apparently that's a thing that happens on rare occasion even without males, and not just in chickens. Although it usually freaks out the bird a bit. And then they rename the parakeet, because "Keats" doesn't sound like a girl's name. The end.

The best part: "Little Lady got the ribbon for 'Best Collar' and Gracie for 'Biggest Bow.' Goldie was 'Best Behaved.'" (Goldie is a goldfish.)

For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally cute, but didn't like that they had to change the bird's name from Keats to Cutsie when they found out it was a girl and not a boy. They name it Keats originally because it's a shortened version of Parakeet that the youngest cub can say.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining story in The Berenstain Bears series. This book was written by Jan Berenstain and Mike Berenstain, and it has all of the charm of the original tales.

This story features a big pet show and I liked the different pets. The narrative is short and good for beginning readers and the illustrations are colorful and cartoonish.

[Mika Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge animal lover, which is why I chose this book to read. However, I was slightly disappointed with some plot holes and the happy ending. Granted owning a pet is wonderful, but pets take a large amount of care and not every pet is the best, but every pet should be loved as if they are. This is something that, I thought, could have been worked into the story to teach the kids a bit. It was enjoyable and interest keeping, though, I did not get bored with the story.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this Berestain book the family gets a new pet bird and the kids give Mama an idea to have the town have a pet show. Everyone shows up with lots of pets of all sizes and breeds. The judge in the end can't figure out which pet is the best since each pet is special to each owner, so they all get a new ribbon and the Berenstain family find out something nice about their new pet.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book to be to repetitive and annoying. My son fell asleep both times while I was reading this book to him.

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Berenstain family loves all their pets and think they are all special. Brother, Sister and Honey enter their pets into the town pet show so they can show everyone what makes their pets special.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Berenstain Bear cubs have a lot of pets. When Mama suggests there be a pet show, the cubs get all their pets ready to head to the Big Pet Show.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. And the pictures are really great as well.