Copyright © 1978 by Stanley and Janice Berenstain. 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, Stanley. Berenstain bears go to school. SUMMARY: Sister Bear, nervous about entering kindergarten, overcomes her fears when she discovers that school is really fun. [1. School stories. 2. Bears—Fiction.] I. Berenstain, Janice, joint author. II. Title. PZ7.B4483Beq [E] 77 79853 eISBN: 978-0-375-98248-4.

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It had been a wonderful summer for the Bear family. They had gone swimming and boating at the lake. They had picnicked in the woods, and taken many walks along sunny paths.

But now summer was just about over. There was a nip in the air. The birds were beginning to fly south, and the leaves on the tree house were changing colors.

One evening at supper, Brother Bear said, “I’m getting tired of summer vacation. I think I’m ready to go back to school!”

“That is good news,” said Papa Bear. “Because school will be starting again, very soon!”

Sister Bear’s ears perked up at the word school.

Mama Bear noticed. “As a matter of fact,” she said, “Sister and I are going to meet her new teacher tomorrow.”

This year Sister would be starting kindergarten. And she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it.

She liked being at home with her mother and father …

her books and toys …

and all her friends.

“What will school be like, Mama?” she asked at bedtime.

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” said Mama as she tucked Sister in and kissed her good-night.

The next day, Mama and Sister packed a lunch and took the long walk down the winding dirt road to the Bear Country School.

Handybear Gus was up on a ladder, fixing the roof.

“Hello!” said Mama. “This is Sister Bear. She starts kindergarten next week.”

“We’ll be glad to have her,” said Gus. “Miss Honeybear is the kindergarten teacher. You’ll find her inside.”

“Hello there!” said Miss Honeybear in a loud, jolly voice. “Come right in and look around!”

Sister thought Miss Honeybear’s voice was a little scary. But she let Miss Honeybear take her hand and lead her into the kindergarten room.

What a big friendly room! It had yellow curtains and tables and chairs that looked just right for someone Sister’s size.

“What do you do in kindergarten?” Sister asked as they sat down for lunch.

“We read stories, sing songs, learn our ABCs, paint pictures, play games, make things out of clay, build with blocks—we do lots of things!” said Miss Honeybear.

Those were all things Sister liked to do. And she had never seen such big jars of paint

… or such fine blocks.

There was even a whole barrel of clay. …

School might be fun, after all, thought Sister by the time she and Mama started home.

But when the big morning came, Sister began to worry again.

“Mama!” she said. “What if I don’t like school? What if I just don’t like it?”

Just then the big yellow school bus pulled up to the tree house.

“Stop worrying!” said Brother Bear. “School is fun. You’ll like it. Now let’s get going or we’ll miss the bus!”

He grabbed her hand and away they went.

Every so often the bus stopped and more bears climbed on.

Most of them were excited like Brother. But some of the smaller ones were quiet like Sister.

As more and more old friends climbed on, they got noisier and noisier … and the smaller ones got quieter.

The little bear who sat next to Sister began to look worried, so she smiled at him and held his hand.

At last the bus arrived. The Bear Country School looked very nice. Handybear Gus had fixed the roof, and painted the trim, and cut the grass.

And Miss Honeybear’s kindergarten room looked beautiful. Everything was ready!

Before very long, the kindergartners got noisy! Two of them wanted to play with the same dump truck. Two others wanted to look at the same book. And a whole gang of them wanted to be first to play with the blocks. What a commotion!

Suddenly a loud, jolly voice called out: “STORY TIME!” Miss Honeybear was calling the class to the book corner. That quieted things down.

After the story, Sister tried everything. She painted a picture …

helped build a block city …

made a giant clay doughnut …

and looked at the books.

She ate all of her bread and honey at snack time …

and she fell asleep at nap time.

When she climbed off the bus with Brother at the end of the day, Sister was the excited one.

“Mama! Papa! Look what I did in school today!” she said, holding up her painting.

A few days later, the weather turned warm again, as it sometimes does in early fall.

Brother was restless at breakfast. “I wish it was still summer vacation,” he said, “so I wouldn’t have to go to school today.”

“Oh, come on, Brother Bear!” said Sister. “School is fun. Let’s get going or we’ll miss the bus!”

On the bus, all the bears were talking about the things they were going to do at school—soccer practice, science projects, music lessons—all kinds of things!

H-m-m, thought Brother. Sister Bear was right. School is fun!

And off they went in the big yellow bus to the Bear Country School.