The Berenstain Bears and the School Scandal Sheet

The Berenstain Bears

by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

Illus. in black-and-white. The cubs of Bear Country School learn something about freedom of the press--and the responsibilities that go with it--when they put out The Cub Reporter, an underground newspaper that gives the teachers and administration a failing grade.  

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Juvenile, Fiction, Young Adult

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

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

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up mostly out of curiosity after seeing a criticism about the Berenstain Bears changing (and also because I saw it on the shelf at the used book store).

Second Act: "Teacher Bob is a wimp. He lets Too-Tall get away with murder." WOW, OKAY THEN. That's a thing that is in this book.

Third Act: That's really something that the teachers could figure out who did it based on ONE CUB IN THE WHOLE SCHOOL HAS A COMPUTER AND PRINTER. Rather, not who was the mastermind, necessarily, but who definitely had some part in it. I mean, it was pretty obvious they would get caught, but COME ON.

Denouement: Why were they not made to print a retraction? Or at least a bit about, "Undercover rag tarnishes teacher's reputation by getting the facts wrong?" SOMETHING to show remorse!

I kind of get why the criticism, though. This feels like a departure from the original series in a lot of ways. At the same time, I understand the lesson they mean to teach here, and it's a pretty good one, even if it was stupidly predictable. (The only part I didn't guess was by what manner it would resolve, as in who would spill the beans.) It's probably a fine book to read on its own, for readers who aren't quite as familiar with/attached to the original series—although it's still pretty weird that this ONE bear family is composed of members with Relationship in the Family as Name, which is harder to swallow as more and more same-face bears are introduced (with ACTUAL names, because otherwise how would anyone tell them apart?).

Edit: I forgot—probably because it's so obvious that a CUB could see the error—when Gossip Girl got her big "scoop" and took a FLASH PHOTO of the inside of a building FROM THE OUTSIDE... she would only have gotten a photo of the reflection of the flash in the window! (I doubt the FANCY RESTAURANT had all its windows wide open!) That would've definitely stopped things from getting (more) out of hand! Bear Country light physics, I guess...

[Melissa -Crazy Lucky Book Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's true that cubs should have freedom to read,
but if the writing causes harm and hurt,
then the news can be bad indeed."

Brother and his friends are in the Journalism club, meaning they get to write for the school newspaper. However, Miss Glitch refuses to let the students write what they want to report, so Brother and Queenie bear decided to make an underground newspaper. The only problem the "Cub Reporters" end up printing nasty rumors and hurtful speech and now Brother bear is feeling the guilt.
I do like there are two sides to the story. First, I think students in Journalism clubs should choose their own stories to write about. (as long as those stories don't put students in physical harm) However, to do good journalism there should be good research. That's the part where Brother bear and his friends had failed. Queenies story wasn't well-researched and so she started a terrible rumor. Also, students should have their own opinions but the opinions should be constructive critiques rather than insults. Both the teaching staff and the students failed to communicate, resulting in a bad newspaper and hurt feelings. Overall I thought the story had a good message on well research news and compromising parties to young readers.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brother Bear and his friends finally get picked to be in the Journalism Club at School. However, their teacher is controlling and tells each of the cubs what to write. This angers the cubs and they decide to write their own newspaper and stick inside of the original newspaper. They include untrue stories and comments from cubs about teachers that are hurtful. Brother Bear feels guilty and shares what happened with Sister who then tells Mama. Mama contacts the school and the truth comes out. Brother learns to think about things before doing them. He also learns that his family always has his back.

[Rachel Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story

Excellent storytelling about repeating what you heard or read before checking out the facts!
This is an excellent book to have in every family's home whether there is children in the home or not. Enjoy reading!

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story! Plus you can't go wrong with the berenstain bears!

[LILLIAN SO LUV'S BOBBY JACK]

neva write a blog unless yu know 4 sure wat yu r writing

[mz.ty Broadway]

i.d.k