The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Teasing

Stan and Jan Berenstain's Too Much Teasing is a Bear Country school story for 5 year olds about a cub who loves teasing, right up until it's his turn to be teased.

What happens

Brother and Sister Bear agree about lots of things. Sweet potatoes are better than mashed potatoes, for a start. But they don't agree about teasing. Brother thinks it's fun. Sister thinks it's mean and nasty.

Then Mr Honeycomb, the head teacher, picks Brother to be his special messenger, because his work and his behaviour have been so good. Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang are jealous. VERY jealous.

Suddenly Brother is teased in class, in the playground and on the school bus. He doesn't like it one bit. He even tries a tummy ache to get out of school (Sister reckons what he's really got is "the teasing virus").

Then a new cub arrives. Milton Chubb is big, with hay in his fur and little round glasses, and he's hopeless at football. Too-Tall's gang turn on him instead. Brother is relieved at first. Then he realises he can't just stand there and watch.

What happens next is a lovely surprise. Milton turns out to have a talent nobody expected, and Brother finds a clever (and slightly cheeky) way to let the whole school see it.

It's a gentle way into a real playground problem. The book doesn't pretend teasing will ever vanish. Papa even says it's just part of life! But it shows how different it feels from the other side, and how good it feels to stand up for someone.

One thing to be aware of is that the teasing of Milton is partly about his size. That makes it a nice one for talking about why picking on how someone looks isn't OK.

It's also great for a child who's about to start somewhere new, or who's watched someone else get picked on and not known what to do.

What to read next

For more of Brother and Sister, and another new cub moving in just down the road, try The Trouble with Friends. This time it's Sister who meets Lizzy Bruin, and it turns out they're both just a little bit bossy.