The Berenstain Bears' Funny Valentine

The Berenstain Bears

by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and Sister Bear has big plans to get the attention of Herbie Cubbison, the cutest cub in class. And she’s going to let that no-good nuisance, Billy Grizzwold, know exactly how she feels about him and his never-ending pranks. But when Sister receives an extra-special valentine, she might just have to rethink her planned Valentine’s Day massacre.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Fiction, Classics, Animals, Family

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

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

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy the Berenstain Bears and I love Valentine's Day - it's red and hearts, what's not to love. There are parts of this story I really enjoyed. This was written in 2003 so it should know better. I know little boys do strange things to the girls they like, or they can. Still, it's a bad message to say that a boy treating you bad or doing bad things to you means they like you. It's simply not a good message.

I say treat a girl right or hit the road. Bye Boo. The kids read this and we talked about what it looks like when someone really likes you. So, happy valentine's.

[Canoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was reading this to my two daughters the other night and had to completely modify the ending. Sister bear has a crush on Bear Boy A who doesn't even know she exists. Bear Boy B keeps doing annoying/mean things to Sister Bear. Valentine's day is coming up. Do you see where this is going? Why yes, to the "oh! Boys who have a crush on you will be mean and annoy you. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?"

No, just no. The book even went as far as to say that this is how Mama Bear and Papa Bear started out, so I guess we are all supposed to swoon over that sweetness (blech!). At first, I was thinking that this must be one of the earlier books, but no. It looks to be first published in 2002.

This is a book we're supposed to leave somewhere as sort of random act of kindness, but I'm thinking we may just trash it rather than put this drivel into the mind of another young child.

DO NOT RECOMMEND! Let's stop telling girls and boys that it's ok for boys to be mean to girls, hit girls, and harass girls all because some bizarre societal norm says this behavior is ok as long as the boy secretly likes the girl.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This won't be a review so much as a rant. I would just like to discuss how early it is indoctrinated in young girls that the boy you hate is actually the boy who secretly likes you and the boy you like is the one who will never notice you. It happens in young adult novels and romantic comedies and even in the freaking Berenstain Bears. Can I just ask why? Why does a boy pulling at your pigtails mean he likes you? Why do we excuse a boy's bullying as a childhood crush. I've dealt with these kinds of "crushes", and I don't think I've ever been more offended or violated in my life. If the generalization is true, those boys rarely give you a nice Valentine card. Instead, they taunt you and make your life harder (see Bully by Penelope Douglas for the most extreme (and painful) example).

For some reasons, writers for every generation never think it makes sense to have the guy the girl likes like her back. You know, the guy who nicely shares his cookies and doesn't yank on her pigtails. Maybe I'm not romantic enough, but I'd rather have an Aiden than a Big (points for those of you knowing what I'm talking about). I'd rather have the nice guy than the bad boy. At this point, I actually think that is more interesting. I just think it's a shame that we're teaching girls the opposite. From the very first books they read, girls are encouraged to see things like pigtail pulling as a sign of affection. We encourage them to like these boys. I wish we didn't. Sometimes it might be true, but more often than not the boy is just being mean.

I actually did like this Berenstain Bears selection, and I'm not sure where the rant came from. Just something I noticed, I guess. Anyway, recommended for young girls with a grain of salt.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book.

[Erica Gronowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about sister bear not wanting to give a boy who is always mean to her a valentine. After the teacher tells her she has to, she picks out one with a Frankenbear monster on it. In return, he gives her this beautiful valentine and tells her that he likes her. She changes her mind and decides to give him a chance as long as he is nice to her.

I gave this book a 3 out of 5 because I like the berenstine bears, but I'm not too fond of the message it sends about "being mean to someone sometimes means you like them"

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the 'later' Berenstain Bears books so it doesn't have the same 'aire' as the older original ones do, these are more 'modern' and just a bit different than the classic ones. But it was still good. Sister Bear has a crush on another cub at school when Valnetines day arrives and she soon learns the lesson that many children her age learn...if a boy appears to be 'mean' to you he actually likes you. Sister learns in the end that he's not so bad after all...

[Laura Carby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and Sister Bear has big plans to get the attention of Herbie Cubbison, the cutest cub in class. And she’s going to let that no-good nuisance, Billy Grizzwold, know exactly how she feels about him and his never-ending pranks. But when Sister receives an extra-special valentine, she might just have to rethink her planned Valentine’s Day massacre.

[Miri · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a boy at sister's school who drives her crazy! What a rat, and for Valentine's day she has to send everyone in the class a Valentine, so she starts thinking up what kind of nasty Valentine she should send this boy. Meanwhile she's gotten a lovely Valentine and hopes it is from a boy she likes.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy is teasing Sister Bear, but he secretly likes her! A typical "teach a lesson" Berenstain Bears.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to Jake last night. He liked the story but I think he liked the illustrations more than the story.

[Uriah]

A good story about girl/boy relationships among kids.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

49 months -

[Heather Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

megan winter reading 2014, megan winter reading 2016, children's book, picture book, holiday book, valentine's day, series, the berenstain bears, crushes, first grade, second grade

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I had read any of these! It was cute.

[Rachelolivia]

II

[Danielle Mootz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Little late for Valwntine's Day but my dauggter checked it out just the same.

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as bad as a couple in this series, but not a winner the way some of them are either, probably not one I would choose to own.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this. There were quite a few funny things so it lived up to its name. Actually the card itself wasn't funny to me, but other things were. The best part was that there was a cute crush and a little bit of love which I hadn't expected but always love, so that sent it over the edge for me.

The title page showed a mailbox that said "It may be chilly outside when Valentine's Day comes, but little bears warm up and send cards to their chums." Their rhyming can be really funny when they are spot on. The other title page showed a bunch of cards, with bears of course. One was a bar with no clothes on, with wings and shooting a bow. Such cute touches.

There was more text than I expected. I thought it would be just one line on a page, rhyming, but this was an actual story with full paragraphs on each page.

It starts off with Lizzy and her friends jumping rope during recess. It was cute that their was an unofficial girls' and boys' side of the playground, not because there was a rule, just that boys and girls tended to stay on one side of the playground. Her friend told her a boy was coming over and I don't think I had encountered that Sister had a crush on anyone before, but she hoped it was Herbie. It wasn't him, but Billy Grizzwold, and Sister wasn't happy about it. She told him he'd better not have a worm, or a dead mouse.

She wanted Herbie to come to her rescue but he didn't even notice her. When Bill messed up the jump rope and they all fell down, Sister gave chase and he was smiling, looking pleased that she was running after him.

Their teacher announced they were going to have a party and Sister had a surprisingly unkind thought for these books. She said if the teacher thought she was going to send the no-good, rotten Billy Grizzwold a card she had another think coming.

At home Sister teased Brother for all of his crushes. He has 3 girls who like him and I didn't know that either. Sister thought of the valentines she wanted to send Billy, and her face was so funny. She was cupping her cheek in her hand, her arm crossed and had this funny contemplative look on her face that had Mama asking what she was thinking. "Roses are red. Violets are blue. Nobody needs a doofus like you." And "Daffodils are yellow. Roses are red. I need you like a hole in the head!" That was so funny.

Sister got mad when Mama asked if he was a friend, said he knocked her down when she was jumping rope (that was an accident!), chased her with a dead mouse, and put a toad in her lunch box.

I expected Mama to correct Sister's behavior, because she's always the disciplinarian. Sister and Brother were getting mad at each other for mentioning their crushes, and surprisingly it was Papa who said Valentine's Day is supposed to be fun, not a shouting match.

Sister picked out a Frankenbear monster card that said "Monsters come in every shape and size. But when it comes to creepy, you take the prize!" That's not a Valentine's Day card! You would never find a card that put someone down and made fun of them. They're positive and nice, because that's the whole point of the holiday.

Sister received an anonymous card that had hearts and flowers and said Will you be my special friend? Her friends told her it must have cost a whole dollar. Sister went to ask Herbie if he'd sent it but Billy came up to her and told her he'd be glad to get her some punch. He apologized for all the stuff he did and said he didn't blame her for sending him this card. He said it was pretty funny and asked how she liked the one he sent her. He said he'd saved up for weeks to get it and that was so sweet! I loved that.

She showed Mama the card and Mama told of a boy who'd done the same things to her. There was a really nasty millipede image and I couldn't stand to look at it. That is so hideously gross and I hate that they showed it. They should have picked a less hideous animal. Sister asked who it was and Mama said it was Papa, and he had his face hidden behind the newspaper he was reading.

At school Billy came up to her at recess and asking if they could sit together at the assembly. That day he came up to her with a daisy and she forgot about Herbie. It made her come off as a little fickle, but Herbie didn't pay attention to her anyway and I really liked Billy. She put his daisy in a book and I thought the story was such a cute Valentine's book.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was looking at Valentine's books, I saw where there were a few in this series, and then I noticed they have a Funny Valentine and a Comic Valentine. That’s entirely too similar. I actually thought maybe it was the same story, and the book had been republished in a different name. But it turns out they just have two books with very similar titles.

Having just read The Berenstain Bears Valentine Party, the rhymes in that book were fresh in my head. Their poems started out the exact same way: ‘Roses are red, violets are blue’ and another one like ‘daffodils are yellow, roses are red.’
You can’t do the same poems in more than one book. It's a very easy thing to notice. Although this one used daffodils and roses, and in The Berenstain Bears' Valentine Party it uses daffodils and cherry blossoms, it's still too similar.

Although I think it’s funny, I was surprised about the sort of mean valentines they put in.
‘Roses are red, violets are blue. Nobody needs a doofus like you.’
‘Daffodils are yellow. Roses are red. I need you like a hole in the head!’
I think they were funny, and I don't mind getting back at others that are mean to you, but I don't think it's a good lesson for impressionable kids. It's like showing them it's ok to be mean and call names.

Sister finds a mean card at the store perfect for Billy Grizzwold. But when have you ever found a mean Valentine’s card? Or any kind of mean card? It defeats the purpose of even sending a card. You wouldn't pay money to send someone you don't like a card.
‘Monsters come in every shape and size. But when it comes to creepy, you take the prize!’

I felt bad that Sister gave him the card, and was hoping she'd back out of it. He read it and knew it was from her. I wonder if he just guessed, or if students wrote their names on their cards, and he figured it out by process of elimination or something?
He says “I’ll be glad to get you some punch” and she says “and throw it down my back?” and he responds “No, nothing like that. I’m sorry about all the stuff I did. And I really don’t blame you for sending me this. It’s really pretty funny.” My heart went out to him. I'm surprised he thought it was funny, too. Leave it to boys.
It was sweet how he told her he saved up for weeks to get it. It was a nice $1 card, which was the expensive kind.

I found it funny they call a toad a ‘hop toad’ and a centipede a ‘thousand-legger.’ The drawing was gross because it looked entirely too like a centipede. Ugh!

Mama Bear tells of a story of a little boy treating her like Billy Grizzwold did, playing tricks on her, and getting her in trouble. When Sister asked “do I know him?” I knew it was the dad. That was a cute twist to the story, that the boy who did that to Mama Bear was Papa Bear. She says "Yes. He's sitting right over there. It was your papa."

I knew that it would be a case of boy teasing the girl he likes. Billy asks her to sit at assembly together and gives her a daisy. Sister forgot all about Herbie Cubbison. The last line of the book is ‘And that afternoon, Sister pressed Billy’s daisy in a book.’ It felt very sudden and inconclusive. I know it wouldn’t end saying they grew up, dated, got married, and had kids, because this is a kid’s book after all, but I just expected something more. Something conclusive, at least.

Looking at the cover again, at the Frankenstein card that says ‘Will You Be Mine? From Guess Who?’ I realized it didn’t fit because her card didn’t say will you be mine? It was an insult card calling him creepy.

The expressions on their faces were funny at times.
2.5 stars.

[Stephanie Joelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a cute valentines book I got for my baby. I want to collect all of the Berenstain Bears books for him. I used to love them when I was a child. This one was based on that classic school girl love story: Girl has a crush on a boy who doesn’t notice her, meanwhile another boy, who is annoying her, keeps getting in her way. Family teases her about her school girl crush. It’s cute and adorable. I really liked it and the family dynamics of this bear family and the similarities of Mama & Papa Bear’s early days to Sister’s little school drama dilemma.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judging by the cover, I assume Sister Bear falls in love with Frankenstein's monster. Okay, at least a quarter of the book is Brother and Sister teasing each other about potential valentines (apparently Brother is something of a playboy). This is actually a kind of cute story about a boy who teases Sister because he likes her, even though it's not a great message to send to kids ("He's being a jerk because he likes you!"). In defense, Billy Grizzwold DOES apologize sincerely and go on to do gentlemanly things, so.

[Brittani Bertoni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Growing up, I was a fan of The Bernstein Bears, however I just had my girls ask me to read this to them last night and you bet your ass I improvised and skipped over all the bullshit about the boy being mean to Sister Bear just because he likes her once I realized that was the theme. It even ended with her liking him back, so it’s more than safe to say we won’t be reading this ever again and I’m donating it to get it out of the house because I’m raising girls that will NOT be doing any of the emotional labor for boys - HARD PASS.

[brynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giving this two stars for the annoying sexism of “boys will be boys.” But, I’m not surprised that the Berenstains would write about how a boy harassing you means he likes you and he will definitely change and stop abusing you later in life. Sigh.
As terrible as this book was, it was an entertaining read for the family on Christmas Eve.

[Rosie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the last part where Mama tells Sister a boy cub did the same pranks to her at school. He frequently grew out of it and become a good father and husband. We learn it that it was Papa Bear. Good thing, Mama’s crush or brother didn’t clobber Papa or there wouldn’t be you or your brother.

[Racheal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to love berenstain bears when I grew up so I had to read this one to my little one but the message isn’t great. I’m glad the boy apologized for doing the mean things to her but still not a great message for little girls.

[Teresa Biggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This made me cringe while reading it. I like the bears.... cute drawings and it was written in 2003 so too have such an old fashion message of crushing on boys who don't like you and boys who are mean to you are the ones who really like you .. makes no sense.

[Huratio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to give it 10 monster stars.

[Leah Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing funny about it

Was reading it to my niece who is 5 and too young to understand about boys. And there was nothing funny about it.
I do not recommend it

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not know why it was OK. DO NOT ASK WHY.

[Karah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick pick-me-up story!!! Anyone needing a story of innocent attraction ought to read this story. A spin on 'boys tease girls they like'. There's no vicious teasing, just the harmless kind.