The Berenstain Bears Go Out to Eat

The Berenstain Bears

by Jan Berenstain, Mike Berenstain (Illustrator)

Papa and the cubs take Mama to Bear Country Grill for a special treat From getting to the restaurant until dessert time, the night is full of fun and adventure. With the Bears, nothing is boring--especially not a night out on the town

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

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

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

[Esther]

I love the Berenstain Bears books (the ones by Stan and Jan) and grew up on them. This one however is a sexist piece of garbage. They go out to eat but it is NOT an 'evening out' for Mama Bear as she says. She's not getting a break; doing a tiny bit less than she usually does for the cubs isn't a break. Mama Bear was the family's place holder in line, she brought the cubs things to do, she ordered them healthy food...etc etc. She still did everything. Stop doing things like saying 'yay at least you don't have to wash the dishes' and instead just give the Mamas a real break. A real break is Papa Bear takes the kids out to eat, Mama stays in and has food delivered to her and she enjoys the peace and quiet and binges whatever show she wants.

[Cassandra Gelvin]

Skip this one and stay home.

Pretty inane. Doesn't really go anywhere. Meanders around for a long time and doesn't really seem to have a point.

Not a whole lot to say about this. I disagree with the feeding philosophy, but it's pretty standard for most people. It kind of sucks that Mama still has to be in charge of a lot of things even though it's supposed to be her night off.

The bears go out to eat. They have to wait a while. Papa takes the cubs for a walk. Mama almost falls asleep. She won't let them eat too much bread. She won't let them order french fries, and makes them get broccoli. She makes them eat all the broccoli before they get dessert. Then they go home.

The best part: "Taking care of Honey Bear is almost a full-time job in itself." Almost? Almost a full-time job in itself? You know, people get paid for that kind of thing.

Message: Give your mom a break every once in a while.

For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.

[Flannery]

I absolutely loved the Berenstain Bears when I was young. I got this one from a bookstore one time. Even though it was one of the "new ones," I thought it looked good enough.
I wish I had gotten the slumber party one after all.
This book made me mad as a six year old, and it still makes me made today. Why? It may seem like a stupid reason, but from what I can remember (I hid it behind the couch after a week because I hated it so much), the cubs and Papa want to give Mama a break, so they take her out to eat. The cubs are using their own money to pay for part of the meal (very thoughtful, I would never do that, especially at Sister and Brother's ages, which are six and eight, I think). But Mama doesn't appreciate that her cubs are using their money to try to give her a special night. They are ordering for themselves (with their own money), and they ask for French fries. Perfectly normal for a fast food place. But Mama tells them that they have to get broccoli.
Really.
So, here's the situation. You're overworked, and your cubs and husband want to do something special for you. They take you out, and your six and eight year old cubs have been so thoughtful as to offer to pay for half of the meal. The least you can do is let them eat French fries with a burger!
I think that the Mama Bear from the old books would be happy that her cubs were being so thoughtful, and let them eat fries with the meal that they half-paid for. Garbage.

[Ally McCulloch]

Mama Bear does all the work, so let's take her out to eat! And when she makes us eat broccoli instead of fries, we'll say okay! Whatever....

[Nattharika Thongthep]

one my favorite book when I was 8.

[Khari]

Huh. Normally these books have a moral to them.

I'm not sure what the moral of this one was, make a reservation before going out to eat so you don't have to wait?

There's also normally a solid narrative arc, this kind of petered out. All in all, not as good as the other ones.

Published in 2010. I wonder if this is when they started ghost writing? Am I too cynical? Nope, don't think I am. Mr. Berenstain died in 2005, Mrs. Berenstain died in 2012, when she was 88. I doubt very seriously she was writing these when she was 86. It's obvious that some were ghost written as there have been plenty published after the deaths of the Berenstains, but I wonder when the ghost writing started...

Story: Meh
Art: Quintessential
Price: $3.99

[JJ Waggy]

Some of this is "wow little kids are not attuned to the social rules of restaurants and so it's hard going out with kids" but a lot more of it is "isn't it so great that every once in a while we don't make Mama do everything by herself," which is a terrible lesson. The fact that so much of the book is Mama Bear saying "it's my night out" and then following that up with basic parenting things like "so you should eat broccoli" is the worst. This is just a continuing notion that mothers are there to run everything and any kind of equal chore sharing or childrearing or whatever else isn't necessary because clearly it's her job and she should do it. Stay-at-home moms are super valid but helping them out is just part of living together as a family, not some kind of benevolent gift.

[Katt Hansen]

The Bears go out for dinner and...well it's a normal dinner out with kids. There's a wait, and patience is required. They need to use restaurant manners.

I actually got kind of irritated with Mama Bear for making the cubs eat broccoli, because it seems that they don't eat out very often at all and if that's the case, then they need to let loose a little - for heaven's sake, have some fun once in a while, the fries won't kill you!

Sometimes we can try to be a little too preachy about eating right at EVERY meal.

[Reader]

Overall a good book good intention to do something nice for their mom it was a good relaxing story I do think mama was forcing healthy dietary things like broccoli on them and not letting them fill up a bit while they were starving but overall good relaxing I get the intention the purpose to do something special that’s not typically done evryday

[Liz Lowe]

The lovable Berenstein Bears have an adventure at a restaurant . Everyone’s favorite bear family is here in a new adventure.

[Suzie]

The boys have always loved this book.

[Danny]

This book was great too

[Mallory]

Mama Bear is just too much of a control freak in this one.

[Lluepker]

Mama bear works the hardest out of all the bears. Just like most mothers in real life. The bears decide they want to do something extra special for her so they take her out ot eat.

[Cheryl]

I didn’t like how they made broccoli the bad vegetable that the cubs didn’t want to eat. It didn’t seem to have much point to it, besides no dishes to wash.

[TJE]

Was great along with Daniel Tiger's book about the same topic to introduce behavior in a restaurant

[Pamela Powell]

Details a nice dinner out with the Berenstain Bears.

[Stef]

This might've been my least favorite Berenstain Bear book that I've read so far. I read the title, thinking, "Surely something more might happen. Surely there's more to this than them going out to eat." Nope. There isn't. They literally just go out to eat, even the opening poem suggests that there will be some kind of adventure or lesson learned ("Dining out/though quite a treat/is a lot of work/for a bite to eat!"). I just don't understand the point of this one. (Do they have to have a point? I grew up assuming that they did.) IS going out to eat a lot of work? IS it a treat? I guess I need to approach this from the viewpoint that this book—like the graduation day one, which I also didn't care for—is simply describing new events to youngsters who've never experienced them before. Still, this didn't really make going out to eat—which is one of my favorite things to do—seem like much fun. This also lacks the subtle wit of previous Berenstain Bear books, like "Too Much TV." My review is starting to exceed the length of the book itself.

[Sheeba Virani]

This book is a perfect way of teaching children restaurant manners and etiquette. Many times children are unaware of the environment in a restaurant and do not know how to behave. This book helps them understand what happens when you go out to eat.

Extension
After reading the book set up a restaurant in the pretend play area. In small groups practice while playing restaurant with the children. This will help them learn social skills.

[Kelly Morgan]

The berenstain bears ate classic book. This particular book, talks about how the family prepares to go out to dinner. When they go out to dinner , daddy over eats. I would read this story to younger grades during health week. Its not healthy for people to overheat. It is also a family book that students could possibly relate to.

[Rosa Cline]

The Berenstain Bears have always been a favorite of ours. I've never read this book. It was a good one about giving Mama a night off... they all go out to eat at the local restaurant. They have to stand in line and wait for a table to become open; which was sometimes hard for the children but because they wanted to give Mama a good night they remembered their manors and they all had a good night.

[chucklesthescot]

After a hard week of housework, it is time for Mama Bear to be treated to a nice meal at Bear Country Grill. Brother and Sister Bear find that waiting for the food can seem like a lifetime when you feel hungry, and Mama wants to be sure that the three children eat a balanced meal.

[Kathleen Meacham]

I enjoyed reading this book with my grand-daughter, Madison, who is 4-years old. It was fun, but also teaches respect for parents, and how to act while in a restaurant. My grand-daughter picked how many stars to rate this.

[T Crockett]

Each time we read it I wonder if the kids relate it at all to their own parents' experience eating out. I'll ask next time.

[Heather]

49 months - the BBs are always a hit with O.

[Christina]

Mama Bear is always busy. She takes care of the family and does all the household chores. One night, the family decides to give Mama Bear a night off and take her out to dinner.