The Berenstain Bears and the Red-Handed Thief

The Berenstain Bears

by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

Illus. in black-and-white. Brother and Sister are sure they know who is breaking into lockers at Bear Country School. But when it comes to finding real proof, they're in for a big surprise.  

Genres: Childrens, Juvenile, Fiction, Mystery

102 pages, Hardcover

First published November 23, 1993

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

[Maquell canfield]

Who knew the Berenstain Bears also wrote chapter books? This kept my 4 and 7 year old entertained.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a present about 25 years ago, maybe for Easter, from my aunt. I read it several times and then my mom got rid of it because some of the other Berenstain Bear books had plotlines about dating and she disapproved. My mom's book ban list was pretty long.

I came across this book today on a library cart at a private school marked as "deleted." I reread it for nostalgia's sake. It is mediocre, but the grownups in the book are interesting. Even in Bear Country, the principal doesn't want to suspend students who are on the baseball team.

As a 9 or 10 year old, this was fun to read. It's not a title I would have kept forever, but being banned for briefly mentioning two characters are dating was silly.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brother and Sister bust a teacher for stealing their stuff.

[Rosie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why is this rich brown privileged educated Bear get away with stealing from cubs?

[Rachel Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on moral

Excellent book on teaching about democracy, innocent until proven guilty, and accusing people because of their past. Or the way they look.

[Kristen McBee · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 5yo hung out for this one and learned a little about due process and bias along the way.

[Melissa -Crazy Lucky Book Nerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When someone's accused of a crime,
but there's no proof of their guilt,
then it comes the time,
to find the true culprit."

I got to say I didn't like this one. So there's this new teacher at Bear county School who's trying to teach the students about democracy and he does use different teaching methods to get the kids more involved. Meanwhile there's a series of stealing happening at the school where someone is taking Cubs stuff from their lockers. Too tall the school bully is automatically a suspect. But now brother bear has an itching feeling that there's more to the stealing and the lesson of their democracy teachers trying to show them and how they both have something in common. So yeah I'm not a big fan of this because in the end it turns out it was supposed to be some lesson that the teacher was trying to teach too tall about the democracy idea of being innocent until proven guilty. But I don't like the methods the teacher had made in order to do so. Because in reality if a teacher was caught stealing the table just lost their job you know? Also it would really make students not trust their teachers anymore and wants to teach you to lose a student's trust it's like you know it's impossible to get it back. So yeah this story while I get what they're trying to go for didn't really clicked well with me m

[Lanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Loved the berenstain Bears as a kid and I was thrilled when my sister picked this out for my birthday. :) I enjoyed the story and the illustrations were cute. :) I especially enjoyed the little lesson. What a great way to teach kids about one of the most important parts of our justice system. The mystery was good to and it was questioning who it right along with the bear detectives. :) if I were about 7 or 8, this would've been perfect. But even as an adult it was still pretty enjoyable. A fun little stroll Down memory lane.

However, I wasn't trilled by the idea of a teacher being dumb enough to steal from students. And a few moments of stereotyping boys and girls. Girls are plenty capable of enjoying baseball cards and knowing about the players just as much as boys! Just like boys should be able "girl" things.

Other then those, lots of fun and I'd definitely recommend these books to a young reader who likes illustrations in their books.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somebody is breaking into school lockers and Too-Tall is the natural suspect. The mysterious thief is even able to evade the hall monitors, so the gang concocts an elaborate trap involving paint and the culprit is identified, although his identity was suspected by no one.

Creative and mysterious.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I remember about this book is that they make a big deal out of the word "chaos" and its pronunciation.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone was stealing stuff.it was a teacher.Auryn 8yo

[Elisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never steal from anyone, even if it is a demonstration or "harmless." Stealing is a bad thing no matter what. This goes for adults too.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first novels that I have ever read.

[Liam Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was Cool