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Bear Country Online |
BOOK REVIEW |
The
Berenstain Bears and the Excuse Note
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Out of print for ten years, but it’s back The Excuse Note touches on
the subject of forged notes - something nearly every student has probably
tried from time to time. Following a minor injury, Sister enjoys not having
to participate in P.E. and writes a note saying she needs to stay inactive
until... well... until she feels like participating again It's a cute story, but if
you think you've heard this before from the Berenstain
Bears, you're right. Excuse Note was originally published as part of the Cub
Club Book Club, a special limited edition series of Berenstain
Bears books published in 1992-1993. This is the second book of the series to
be re-issued - "The Berenstain Bears Catch the
Bus," published last year, which was originally also a part of the Cub
Club entitled, "The Berenstain Bears On
Time." Perhaps there is a trend
here, and many of those stories will reprinted, especially consdering Stan and Jan are in (and have been for a few
years) the process of transferring storytelling and ilustrating
duties to their sons, Michael and Leo, who have actually been writing many of
the recent books though still (wisely) published under the name of Stan and
Jan. Which raises the question: will the series ever end? It could be said
that the series is running out of original ideas - there are over 300 books
to the Bear Family's credit now (40 years!), and, as we see by this title, we
are beginning to see duplicates. But there are, of course,
topics which the Bear Family has yet to tackle. The Chapter Books have
tackled everything from first dates to smoking, but I think the First Time
Series would welcome titles touching on topics like flying for the first time
or visiting firefighters and/or police officers. |
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