The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit

The Berenstain Bears

by Stan Berenstain

This classic Berenstain Bears story is a perfect way to teach children about the importance of overcoming bad habits!

Come for a visit in Bear Country with this classic First Time Book® from Stan and Jan Berenstain. Join Mama, Papa, and Brother, as they try and help Sister break a very bad habit . . . biting her nails. Will she manage to get her bad habit under control, or will she end up stuck as a nail nibbler. Includes over 50 bonus stickers!

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

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Leland T-Money Fortier]

They speak the truth, nail biting is a gateway habit. I used to have a friend who was a nail biter, then he smoked weed, and I'm pretty sure he works at a Vape shop now.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez]

I am so over the Berenstain Bears books. Thank God Julia never got into these like I know some kids are. We've read them when we've come across them but other than that we tend to pass them by.
I can see where this book would be helpful for a kid who bites their nails but man, this family is so annoying. Why don't they have names? Everyone has names. Even some rocks have names for the love of God. Yet members of this family of bears are known by "brother" and "sister"?
Listen, I'm sorry, I was going to review this like I normally do but I can't. I no longer want to think about any of these damn bears. Ever again. And, just so people don't get the wrong idea, I'm rating this two stars because.... hell, I don't even know why. I just don't want to give it one star. But I still hate it.
I almost forgot - the stories are far too long - you could cut out half the book - any of the books - and still get the same thing and maybe no fall asleep too.

[Chelsey]

I actually just have a funny comment about this book. I love the Berenstain bears and this book is just one of them. I read it to my 3 year old that had a bad habit and instead of curing her of her habit, she developed nail biting like sister bear. So after reading this, we actually had two problems. Ack!

[Muhammad Galal]

فضلت تاكل في ضوافرها كتير جدًا ،
أغروها بالفلوس .....
و ربّنا تاب عليها في الآخر من هذه العادّة السيّئة

أعرف ناس كانوا بيعضعضوا في ضوافر رجليهم ، وربّنا تاب عليهم برضو :D

[Laura]

I read this book so much as a kid that my copy is starting to fall apart and it might be missing a page or two... 🤦‍♀️😭

[Amy]

Such good advice with the Pennies! Loved this. I’m using this book to help me teach conditioned behavior and habits with addiction. Important points in the book

[Josiah]

This is, in my view, an above-average picture book. The lesson on the effects of habits (both good and bad ones) is presented well without being condescending or too harsh, and the story itself is interesting and funny. I've always liked the books about the Berenstain Bears, and I think that they are second only to the publications of Dr. Suess is how commonly they can be found in pediatric offices throughout the United States. :-)

[↜ƈɦǟռ☂ɛℓℓɛ↝]

★★★★The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Sister Bear has a habit, like most young cubs. Some scratch, some suck their thumbs, some play with their hair, but she bites her nails. The bad thing is she doesn't realize it, until it's too late, and starts to hurt. Bad Habits are hard to break, unless you have something, to remind you of them.

[Brian]

Hey! Money can solve your problems! what a lesson!

[Danette]

Read with Naomi (with her thumb in her mouth).

[Morgan Carlson]

This book is about Sister Bear having a bad habit of biting her nails. She ends up biting them so much that her fingers hurt so he turns to Mama Bear for help. She first suggested putting tape around Sister Bear's fingers but the kids at school teased her so that didn't work. Papa Bear suggested that Sister Bear would get a dime at the end of the day if she didn't bite her nails. That didn't work and it discouraged Sister Bear. Finally, Gran suggested that he start out with ten pennies, one for each nail, and she kept all the pennies if she didn't bite any of her nails. She had a few set backs, but Sister Bear finally broke her bad habit.

One element of fantasy that's seen in this book is that they are bears that can talk and live normal lives. Second, because they're animals, this book is considered to have fantastic people in the real world. The journey Sister Bear goes on is that of finding a way to break her bad habit. The theme of this book relates to the fantasy theme of love and friendship since it takes the help of other to help her break her habit.

This book is very brightly colored to attract the eyes of young readers. The shading is very light, bringing a happy, joyful tone to the book. The illustrations are very cartoon-like, adding to the books humorous, comical aspect. There is a big use of framing, like the frames seen in graphic novels, which are used to display movement and transitions.

[Oatha Council]

There's not much that happened in the book but, with the help of her family, Sister Bear breaks her habit of biting her nails.
The Berenstain Bears series have always been a personal favorite. This one that i recently read happened to not be one of my favorites. It being a children's book I feel like there was a lot going on, but they were simply trying to break Sister Bear's bad habits. The colors in the book are very bright and all the colors pop out. The illustrations bring more of a bright settle setting to the book and the lines are going everywhere so I don't think it kind of sets a tone for the book or not.
I personally wasn't a fan of this particular book, but I love the Berenstain Bears series. I would recommend those books to any child only because I know how much joy those books brought me.

[JJ Waggy]

It's interesting that I think this is one of the few Bears books I've read that explicitly points out how the parents need to change, too, not just the kiddos. I appreciate that the outside advice of "don't try and scare kids out of a habit" is very clear against both Papa *and* Mama Bear; both of them were trying to deter Sister's nail-biting rather than redirecting it, which is something we know now is much better neurologically. (Your brain doesn't like abandoning pathways, but it can be convinced to create new ones.)

Wildly not about the money-driven aspect of this because we have enough capitalism, thank you, but the lesson was solid. It has aged mostly well--although wow all the kids at school are the worst. (Also, don't be a punk, Lizzie Bruin. I thought you two were friends!)

[Rose Rosetree]

As I start to review my first Berenstain Bears book for Goodreads, I will acknowledge a fondness for this series, back in the day. Raising my son, I liked the appropriate kinds of self-help for children offered in these picture books.

Now my son is 32. The kid lit landscape has changed, and I wind up reviewing many books with self-help advice for children that I consider wildly inappropriate.

Reading this book now, I hope that nothing weird has been added to the familiar cake recipe.

PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING

With a touch of humor added.

FIVE STARS. And my relief, because this book was as good as I remembered this Bear Lit being.

[Ellie Raymond]

Great story for the kiddos!

Cute story about habits, both good and bad. It just so happens that my right year old son bites his nails as well and he certainly could relate to Sister Bear. At the end, he mentioned he would like to try and stop, even though I have been trying to get him to stop buying his nails since I could remember. Haha.
Adorable characters, wonderful illustrations and great storyline. It's safe to say my little ones will be taking out more Berenstain Bears books at the library.

[Micayla Berry]

This book is fine, honestly. The story is good, but there's no real flow in the writing. I almost wished that it rhymed to make it more interesting. It is a bit outdated. There may be other reasons children do these things. It may be stress, or it could be a tic, or it could be stimming. In my case, it was that I had undiagnosed skin issues. There is some commentary too though, on stigma and how other people may mock you for your differences. That shaming people also doesn't really work either. It often backfires. This book also provides good examples of positive reinforcement and some of it's pitfalls. Rewarding somebody for good behavior may work, if they highly value the reward. I believe negative punishment however, should only be used if absolutely necessary. I can't help but wonder if instead of taking away the pennies, they should've just tried giving her the pennies first. Having the pennies serves as a reminder not to bite her nails and about the reward she will receive at the end of the day. The ending joke is funny and can also serve as an example of one of the pitfalls of positive reinforcement. People may only engage in the good behavior if they are given an external incentive for doing so.

[Elise]

My extremely sensitive 4 year old cannot handle much drama in books. At one point in the book Papa Bear suggests that a good solution to deal with Sister Bear's nail biting is to "read her the riot act" and he started saying what an outrageous, disgraceful habit that was, etc. I skipped over that part to avoid a 30 minute conversation with my daughter over a 7-10 minute book. I think this is a lovely book and I remember reading it when I was a child.

[Paula Scott]

Yea it's a cheesy book, but this book presents a great lesson for kids one that should follow them throughout their lives and a lesson parents should expand on and discuss with their children. This book teaches : Habits are self induced,for whatever reason, and they can be both good and bad and we can make or break habits. Kids need to know this because habits = the processes that contribute to the quality of life.

[LobsterQuadrille]

I don't know how effective a solution the Bears' penny system would actually be for stopping habits. I don't care too much either way since I'm reading these books for no other reason than the fact that I am a nostalgic adult with no shame. But this is really just one of the lesson-learning books with limited entertainment value. The Berenstain Bears are at their best when they are going on quaint or goofy little adventures, with morals only tangential to the main action.

[Katt Hansen]

This is another of those Berenstain Bear books which seems aimed more at parents than child. The story tackles the topic of nail-biting, and the solution is creative. I wonder if it would have worked on me back when I used to bite my nails as a kid. Overall, I found the solution creative, the story fun to read and easy to identify with, and even entertaining.

[Raneem]

من كثرة التوتر في المدرسة... تبدا دبدوبة في قضم اظافرها فكيف يمكنها التغلب على هذه العادة السيئة.... الكتاب لطيف جظا و يشرح بطريقة لطيفة معنى العادات و كيف يمكننا التخلص منها ... و لكن لعتراضي الوحيد انهم استخدموا الاموال كمحفذات لتوقف تلك العادة

[Mari]

sister learns to bite her nails as a nervous habit... it wouldn't surprise me if kids start biting their nails after being introduced to it in this book... the parents aren't as mean in the book as they seem to be on the cover...

[Jenae]

I agree with the other reviewer who commented that the cover is a little over the top for something as benign as nail biting. That said, it was the 80s and these are nostalgic books for a lot of people (myself included, as a 90s baby) and I will keep reading them for nostalgia’s sake.

[Slow Man]

I don’t know what to think of that?

[Manu]

Leila: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: because she was a nail biter and she didn’t follow the rules. (That’s why u liked it?) yes. (Oh boy)

[Jia ♥]

I chew my nails too! My parents should do this as well.

[Ashley Kempkes]

Nail biting is SO hard not to do- I mostly don't these days but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Miss Lou]

My two-year old would bring this book up in discussion, letting me know that he "likes to suck [my] thumb, did you know?" It doesn't help rid that bad habit, unfortunately.

[Kyrstin Elizabeth]

I like the moral behind this one.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

I feel like many of these books were bought for my by my parents because they thought they would be helpful.
I still bite my nails.. better luck next time parents!