Copyright © 2000 by Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.randomhouse.com/kids www.berenstainbears.com
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Berenstain, Stan, 1923– The birds, the bees, and the Berenstain Bears / Stan and Jan Berenstain. p. cm. — (A first time book) Summary: When Mama announces that she is going to have a baby, Sister Bear is curious about where the baby came from and how it is going to get out of Mama’s body.
eISBN: 978-0-375-98692-5
[1. Babies—Fiction. 2. Pregnancy—Fiction. 3. Reproduction—Fiction. 4. Bears—Fiction.] I. Berenstain, Jan, 1923–. II. Title: The Birds, the Bees, and the Berenstain Bears. III. Series: Berenstain, Stan, 1923–. First time book.
PZ7.B4483Bfge 2000 [E]—dc21 98-46396
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
v3.1

Title Page

Copyright

First Page

Sister Bear was a very busy young cub. She liked all different kinds of things.

She liked to watch the clouds go by. She liked the color pink. She certainly liked her dolls. She had three of them: a rag doll, a Kewpie doll, and a baby doll that opened and closed her eyes and said, “Mama!”

Sister liked to do all kinds of different things. She liked to run and jump and climb.

She liked to jump rope.

She liked to ride her trike.

Sister wondered about all different kinds of things. She wondered why the sky was blue. She wondered why the stars twinkled. She wondered what made the wind blow.

She reminded herself to ask Papa about those things.

One day when Mama took her up onto her lap to read a book, Sister wondered why Mama’s lap was getting smaller.

“Mama,” she said. “Your lap is getting smaller.”

“That’s true,” said Mama.

“Why is that?” asked Sister.

“Why do you suppose?” said Mama.

“Maybe it’s because you’re eating too much,” said Sister.

Mama laughed and said, “I certainly hope not. No, the answer is that I’m going to have a baby.”

Sister could accept that.

“Oh,” she said. “Mama?”

“Yes, dear,” said Mama.

“Aren’t you going to read the book?” said Sister.

“Yes,” said Mama. She read the book.

“When are you going to have a baby?” asked Sister a couple of days later.

“Not for many months,” said Mama. “You see, the baby is very small now. It’s growing in a special place in my body.”

“What kind of special place?” asked Sister.

“It’s called a ‘womb,’ ” said Mama.

Sister thought about that. “That sounds like ‘room,’ ” she said.

“Sounds like, but isn’t like,” said Mama. “It’s a special place that all mamas have where babies can start and grow.”

Sister could accept that.

A few days later, Sister was playing with her dolls when Mama walked by.

“How’s it going to get out?” asked Sister.

“How is what going to get out?” asked Mama.

“The baby,” said Sister.

“That’s a good question,” said Mama. “I’m just about to leave for my appointment with Dr. Gert. Why don’t you come along and ask her? She’s very good at answering questions.”

“Okay,” said Sister. “Oh, Brother, would you like to come along?”

“No thanks,” said Brother, who was in the middle of making a model airplane. “I went through that before you were born.”

Sister could accept that.

“Hello, Sister,” said Dr. Gert. “I’m glad to see you. As you know, your mama is going to have another baby. I’m especially glad to see you because I delivered you and your brother.”

“Where did you deliver us to?” asked Sister.

“Oh, that’s just an expression doctors use for how we help mamas have babies,” said Dr. Gert.

“Would you like to come with us? I’m going to have a look and see how the baby’s doing.”

“How are you going to do that?” asked Sister.

“We have special machines that let us look inside,” said the doctor. “One is called an x-ray machine.” Sister knew about x-rays. She had her ankle x-rayed once to see if it was broken. But it was just a sprain.

“This one is called an ultrasound machine,” said Dr. Gert as she passed a thing that looked like a TV remote over Mama’s tummy. The thing was connected to a big machine that had a little screen.

Fuzzy pictures came on the screen. They didn’t look much like a baby to Sister. But they must have to Dr. Gert because she kept saying, “Good. Fine. Excellent.”

“Your mama said you had a question for me,” said Dr. Gert as they were about to leave.

“Yes,” said Sister. “How does the baby get out?”

“When the baby and the mama are ready,” explained Dr. Gert, “the baby comes down through a part of the mama’s body called the birth canal.”

Sister could accept that. She couldn’t quite picture it, but she trusted Dr. Gert and she accepted it.

“What a beautiful spring morning,” said Mama as they walked home through the meadow. The meadow was very lively that day. A pair of robins were feeding their babies. A baby bunny hopped across their path.

“Look!” said Mama, pointing to a deer at the edge of the woods. “See how fat her sides are. She and I might have our babies at the same time.”

“Look!” said Sister. “There’s one with antlers. Do you think maybe he’s the daddy?”

“I think maybe he is,” said Mama.

“Gee,” said Sister. “It looks like babies, babies all over the place!”

“Looks like,” said Mama. “I guess you’ve noticed all the bees visiting the flowers.” How could Sister have helped noticing? The buzz of the busy hovering bees filled the air.

“Does that have to do with babies, too?” asked Sister.

“In a way it does,” said Mama. “I guess you’ve noticed that birds and bears and bunnies and deer all come in males and females.”

“Yes,” said Sister. She remembered from when she and Brother were very little and used to take baths together.

“Well,” said Mama, “it’s not just birds and bears that come in males and females. Some trees and flowers do, too.”

“You mean there are boy and girl trees and flowers?”

“More like male and female,” said Mama. “But that’s the general idea. And while the honeybees are gathering nectar to make honey, they’re doing another important job. They’re picking up pollen from the male flowers and carrying it to the female flowers. It’s the female flowers that make the seeds that grow into more flowers.”

Sister could accept that.

Spring grew into summer and summer grew into autumn, and Mama grew to such a size that she had no lap at all.

Then one morning she said to Papa, “I think it’s time.” Papa called up Mrs. Grizzle, the cubs’ regular sitter. She came over to stay with Sister and Brother while Papa took Mama to the hospital, where Dr. Gert would help Mama have the baby.

It wasn’t long before the phone rang. It was Papa. Mrs. Grizzle answered it. Then she put Sister and Brother on the phone. “The new baby has arrived!” said Papa. “And mother and baby are doing fine!”

“Is it a girl or boy?” asked Sister. “Papa—” But Papa had hung up. Sister turned to Mrs. Grizzle. “He didn’t say whether it was a girl or boy.”

“Well,” said Mrs. Grizzle, “he’s pretty excited right now. He just forgot. Besides,” she continued, “the important thing is that they’re both doing fine.”

Sure, that was important, but other things were important, too: like whether it was a girl or boy. And what about a name for the new baby? Sister was hoping for a sister that she could play dolls and stuff with. Brother, on the other hand, wanted a brother to make model airplanes and stuff with.

But while it was true that the new baby wouldn’t be able to do any of those things for some time, it could already do quite a lot.

As they found out later that day, it could cry and squirm and wiggle and wet and even hold on to your finger. Someday it would be able to do all the things Sister and Brother could do.

Sister could accept that.

And Mama got her lap back!