Stella and the Berry Thief

by Jane B. Mason, Loek Koopmans (Illustrator)

Stella, who never shares her ribbon-winning raspberry pies and preserves with anyone, wonders what to do about a bear that starts stealing her berries.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

Hardcover

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Jane B. Mason grew up in a large family in northern Minnesota. She has written books for kids of all ages under many names and on many subjects, among them ghosts, Jedi, detective duos, princesses, twins, mean girls, and slam books.

Jane has lived in the midwest and on both coasts, but appears to have settled in Oakland, California, and writes almost every day at either a friend's dining room table or a little studio in her back yard, where she has a purple loveseat, a whole lotta books, and an odd selection of trinkets she has unwittingly been collecting since she was a child.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picture book, ages 4-8.
Kind of a weird book. Nothing really glaringly wrong with it, but absolutely nothing memorable. No reason to buy or borrow it.
Stella makes jam and pies with her own raspberries, and refuses to share them. When someone picks her berry bushes clean one year, she sets out to catch the thief. When she discovers that it was a bear eating her berries, she follows him to a new patch of berries, then suddenly decides to share her jam and pies with everyone.
The watercolors are nice enough except for the bear's eyes, which I thought were weird.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a book that spoke wonderfully to the fact that sometimes you actually end up with more if you're willing to share. You never know. Someone with whom you share may share with you, in return! I enjoyed both the story and the illustrations

[Nancy Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great tale about the power of cooperation and sharing. It provides a teachable moment and has excellent illustrations.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this story!

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

What fantasy world does the author live in? This makes no sense to me at all. Sharing with a hungry person is good karma, but with a bear? A bear that has no fear of people, lights, noise?

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable, sweet read.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Stella finds the berry stealer of her garden, she realizes it is not fair for her to have all the berries to herself. This story has a great moral: sharing and being friendly toward others. Although Stella was the best at baking pies and making jams, she would learn to give to others to share the wealth! It is a simple nice transitional book that 2-3 graders would enjoy reading, especially if they have a farm or garden of their own at home. For inner city children, they have a chance to see what a garden is, and what can actually come out of it.

[Gitty Mandel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a girl named Stella who always plants raspberries and makes pies and jam. She lives all alone and never shares the pies. One day a bear came and showed her the biggest raspberry orchard she'd ever seen and she took them home and made pies and jam, then she went to the fair and won the prize and shared it with everyone.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

It sounds a little interesting because there's a bear eating her berries and she gets really mad, and then the bear goes back into the forest and she follows him and she gets lots of berries to make berry pies.

[Bear · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the pictures in this one. Very fun.

[Ann Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Someday my granddaughter will love this!