The Big Honey Hunt, 40th Anniversary Edition (The Berenstain Bears) [Hardcover]

Stan Berenstain (Author), Jan Berenstain (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

According to Papa Bear, a bear must use his “smarts” to search for honey. When he brings Brother Bear along on a hunt for honey, it takes more than a few missteps to outsmart the Bears.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Carried along by rhyme and rhythm, enlivened by humorous, colorful illustrations."--Chicago Tribune.

From the Inside Flap

According to Papa Bear, a bear must use his ?smarts? to search for honey. When he brings Brother Bear along on a hunt for honey, it takes more than a few missteps to outsmart the Bears.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 72 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 12, 1962)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394800281
• ISBN-13: 978-0394800288
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.4 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Beginnings of the Berenstain Bears, June 11, 2000

By 

K. Bennett (Rolla, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Big Honey Hunt, 40th Anniversary Edition (The Berenstain Bears) (Hardcover)

The Berenstain Bears are my secret weapon in my constant battle to instill good habits in my kids. My kids may not listen to me nagging them to clean up their rooms, but they will listen to Mama Bear. Since there's a Berenstain Bear book that covers just about any problem that crops up in our house, we know Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister Bear almost as well as we know our next door neighbors (and they're related to us!).

If you only know the Bear family though some of their more recent books, you might be surprised to learn that the first few Berenstain Bears books aren't about problem-solving at all. Instead, they are rhyming books about life in what later came to be know as "the tree house down a sunny dirt road in Bear Country."

In the very first book, an empty honey pot sends Papa Bear and Small Bear (later to be known as Brother Bear) on a quest for some honey. Mama tells them to get it at the honey store, conveniently located just outside the front door. Papa Bear, however, has grander plans.

"Not at the store. Oh, no, Small Bear. If a bear is smart, If a bear knows how, He goes on a honey hunt. Watch me now!" If you've read any of the Bears' adventures, you'll know that of course Papa's grand plans backfire. He and Small Bear end up hiding in a pond to escape a swarm of angry bees. On the last page, Mama watches with a knowing smile as Papa buys honey from the store.

There's one person in my family who cringes every time a new Bear book shows up on the night's list of requested reading. My husband doesn't like to see Papa always portrayed as a buffoon. Sometimes, just to make my husband feel better, I'll let Papa be the sensible one and Mama be the comic relief.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Berenstains' book, February 18, 2002

By 

Jane James "homeschoolmum" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Honey Hunt (Beginner Books(R)) (Library Binding)

This story is a fun adventure with lots of expressive illustrations and easy-to-read words. With 61 pages, a child really feels like he's accomplished something when he finishes this book.

Small Bear and Dad Bear go in search of honey. Mother tells them to go to the honey store, but Dad Bear has a better idea. They go in search of a honey tree. One mishap after another, they finally find their honey - only, where a bear finds honey, he also finds BEES.

Dad is clever, though, and they manage to escape unscathed... and they come home with honey, too!

A fun book, and great for beginning readers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back in the day...., February 23, 2005

By 

kennedy19 "kennedy19" (wakefield, ma USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Honey Hunt, 40th Anniversary Edition (The Berenstain Bears) (Hardcover)

The Berenstains should be remembered for their beginning reader books of the sixties and early seventies. Back then, the drawing style was more free, the stories were simple but clever, and the bears were a memorably comic tour de force. (In latter years they became cranked-out and preachy, and dealt with all sorts of issues in longer picture books and novels. Bah.) What child has ever completely forgotten the impages of their early adventures? In this, their first book, we meet Papa Bear, the bluff but incompetent teacher, and his son, the woshipful pupil who is actually smarter than the teacher. Off they go with a bucket to get some real honey from bees, eschewing the store next to their house. A series of comic misadventures ensure, climaxing with the bears being chased by a swarm of bees and hiding underwater. They return home to buy honey the easy way, as Mama told them to do in the first place. Funny, concise, and still fun after all these years - such are the early Berenstain Bears.