The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble With Friends - Jan Berenstain [0]
Stan & Jan Berenstain
Random House (logo) New York
Copyright © 1986 by Berenstains, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: Berenstain, Stan. The Berenstain bears and the trouble with friends. (A First time book) SUMMARY: Lonely without friends her age to play with, Sister Bear is delighted when a new little girl cub moves into the house down the road. [1. Play—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Bears—Fiction.] I. Berenstain, Jan. II. Title. III. Series: Berenstain, Stan. First time books. PZ7.B4483Beks 1986 [E] 85-30165
eISBN: 978-0-375-98251-4
v3.1
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
First Page
Sister and Brother Bear, who lived with their mama and papa in the big tree house down a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country, were not only sister and brother, they were playmates and they got along pretty well—most of the time.
But Brother was quite a lot older than Sister—almost two years—and sometimes he wasn’t much interested in the games she wanted to play. Especially when Sister got a little bossy—which she sometimes did.
“Now,” she said one day as she came out of the tree house with a big armload of her dolls and stuffed animals, “we’re going to play tea party. You sit there and be the papa and I’ll sit here and be the mama.”
“Aw, gee, Sis,” said Brother. “I’m too old to play tea party. Why, if Cousin Freddy or any of the guys saw me I’d never hear the end of it. Why don’t you find somebody your own age to play tea party with?
“Besides, I have a date to go skateboarding with Freddy.” And off he zoomed, leaving Sister all by her lonesome.
“All right for you!” she shouted.
“Oh, dear,” said Mama, who was watching from the tree house window. “There goes Brother off to play with Freddy again. I do wish Sister had somebody her own age to play with.”
“What about her school friends?” asked Papa, joining her at the window.
“They all live too far away,” sighed Mama as she watched lonesome Sister pick up her trusty jump rope and start jumping with a friendly frog. Soon a butterfly joined in.
“She has her forest friends, the frogs and butterflies, to play with,” said Papa.
“Frogs and butterflies are all very well,” said Mama. “But they’re not the same as having a cub friend your own age.”
That’s when Mama saw the moving truck out of the corner of her eye.
“Look!” she said. “A new family moving into the empty tree house down the road! It certainly would be nice if they had a cub Sister’s age.”
Sister saw the truck too—and the car following it.
“Somebody moving into the empty tree house!” she said. “I wonder if they have any cubs.” And off she skipped down the road to investigate.
The truck stopped at the empty house and the moving bears began to unload it. The car pulled in behind the truck and the new family got out. There was a mama, a papa, and a little girl cub just about Sister’s age!
Sister could hardly believe her good luck! Just what she needed—a little girl cub to jump rope, play tea party and house and school, and have all kinds of cub fun with! She could hardly wait to say hello. She skipped over and introduced herself.
“Hi! I’m Sister Bear. I’m six years old and I live just down the road.”
“Hi!” said the new cub. “I’m Lizzy Bruin and this is my papa and mama, Mr. and Mrs. Bruin. I’m six years old too. May I try your jump rope? I can do Red Hot Pepper!”
And could she ever! Lizzy Bruin was the fastest rope jumper Sister had ever seen.
“I can jump to a thousand,” said Sister.
“I can do a thousand and one,” said Lizzy, returning the rope.
“A thousand and two,” snapped Sister.
“A thousand and three,” said Lizzy.
“Well, we’ll just see about that! Let’s have a jump-off here and now!” said Sister.
“Let’s not and say we did!” said Lizzy. “Say! Isn’t