Stan Berenstain - The Berenstain Bears Trouble with Money

Random House New York Copyright 1983 by Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. First Time Books and the colophon are registered trademarks of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berenstain, Stan. The Berenstain bears trouble with money. (First time books)
Summary: Brother and Sister Bear learn some important lessons about earning and spending money.
Trade ISBN: 978-0394859170 eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37033-2
[1. 2. 2.

Finance, PersonalFiction.
3. Moneymaking projectsFiction. 4. BearsFiction.] I. Berenstain, Jan.
II. III. III.

Series: Berenstain, Stan. First time books.

Brother Bear and Sister Bear knew quite a lot about the ways of Bear Country. They knew where the most beautiful wild flowers grew. They knew where the wild berries were the thickest and juiciest. They knew where all the best honey trees were. They even knew a very special place where you could almost always see a rainbowfrom a secret space behind the waterfall. But there were some things they didnt know very much about. One of the things Brother and Sister Bear didnt understand very well was money. Oh, they knew money was fun to have and even more fun to spend. Oh, they knew money was fun to have and even more fun to spend.

And whenever they got some
as a present, or for doing a
chore for a neighbor, or for no reason at all from Grizzly Gramps, who tended to spoil them,
or from Papa Bear, who spoiled them even more they ran as fast as their legs could carry them to the Bear Country Mall and spent it for honeycomb on a stick, a balsawood glider that did loops, a tiny little mouth organ that only played three notes. They never bought anything sensible, and they hardly ever saved. Once in a while Sister put money in her piggy bank. But she usually shook it out again before it had a chance to cool off from her hot little hand.
Brother didnt even have a piggy bank. Mama was becoming concerned about the cubs carefree, spendthrift way with money. I think Brother and Sister should have a regular allowance, she said one evening when she and Papa were working on the family books.

An allowance! said Papa. Yes, so they can learn to use money sensiblyto save, to plan ahead. Oh, no! said Papa. Theyre much too young for that sort of thing. Let them enjoy themselves! Theyll have to worry about money soon enough when theyre grownups, he added with a sigh.
But it was Papa who first lost patience with their carelessness about money. That was when they saw the new video game. That was when they saw the new video game.

It was called Astro Bear and it looked very exciting. A video game! At the mall! Papa shouted. You must think Im made of money! The cubs thought no such thing, and when they pictured it, it seemed very strange. Mama could see that they were puzzled and she explained: Made of money is just a figure of speech, my dears. Thats when the cubs realized that the situation was serious.