I recently picked this book up from the bookstore after seeing it again. I remember this particular Berenstain Bear book as being one of my favorites when I was a child, and I was not disappointed when I read it again. I really enjoyed rereading this book. All the Berenstain books have some sort of moral, topic, or lesson that they teach in each book. In this particular book, Brother Bear and Sister Bear have bad dreams after an eventful day. I love the Berenstain books for various reasons, one being the family dynamics in the book. It is very realistic and is easy to relate to for the majority of children. There is fights between siblings, parent lectures, and compromises between family members who love each other. When I was little I didn’t realize what I was learning through reading these books, but as an adult it is very interesting to see the subtle ways that these books instill morals or information into the text. For example, without realizing it, children are learning that “even though you go to sleep, your mind keeps right on thinking. But it doesn’t think in a sensible way. It takes all the things you were thinking or were nervous about during the day and puts them together all jumbled like a mixed-up jigsaw puzzle.” I love that the books can introduce concepts like brain activity and dreams at an early age in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the reader and can be understood at a child’s level. Finally, the drawings in this book are superb and exactly how I remember them, even after all these years. The pictures were what I remembered the most about this story and it really makes sense because the pictures supplemented the story in a very good way. They made the book memorable. ( )

This children's book has some good vocabulary words for younger kids. For example, it explains what a nightmare is and a few other more challenging words for younger children. At the end of the book, the brother bear gets to explain to his sister what he has learned throughout the book about nightmares. ( )

I think this would be a good books for all elementary school ages. Everyone has bad dreams. It teaches kids that they do not need to be afriad of their bad dreams. It also teaches them that some things that are in your dreams are not real. Kids just need to remember that they are safe at home in their beds.

You can stock your library with Berenstain Bears books, they're that cheap. And we all remember them from our own childhoods.

Unfortunately, they're really pretty wordy books. A lot of children in the age range for these books simply can't sit still through them.

This book takes it a bit further in that most of it is not about the bad dream at all, but about the events leading *up* to the bad dream. Which is great and realistic, but which may lead a small child (or a grown-up) to wonder what the point is? The story could easily have been told in half the pages and - and this I *know* because I self-edit as I read - a third of the words. ( )

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