Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Blessed Are the Peacemakers by Mike Berenstain

Blessed Are the Peacemakers
By Mike Berenstain
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Published: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0310734819

Amazon Synopsis:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
In this new Berenstain Bears 8x8 book, Blessed are the Peacemakers , Brother and Sister have a wide circle of friends at Bear Country School and they get along with pretty much everyone. But not all their friends get along with each other. Too Tall and his bullying gang, for instance, are often in conflict with Cousin Fred, Ferdy Factual, and their friends. So what happens when the cubs all need to work together on the annual school play? Brother and Sister have to decide whether they should “mind their own business” or get involved as peacemakers and try to calm the troubled waters.

Book Links

 My Thoughts:

Brother and Sister Bear help to keep the peace between Too-Tall and his gang and Ferdy Factual and his friends when the school puts on the play Romeo and Grizzliet. Ferdy plays Romeo and Queenie, who is part of Too-Tall’s gang plays Grizzliet. In the play Romeo and Grizzliet fall in love.

This is an excellent book just as all the Berenstain Bear books have been in all the years I have been reading them through growing up. I particularly like this one as it teaches children that it is better to try to keep the peace with others than to try to stir the pot and cause trouble. Even the parents in the story learn the same lesson as the children.

Using the story of Romeo and Grizzliet also allows parents to the story as a bridge to another play, Romeo and Juliet and perhaps even allow them to teach their children some classical literature.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers is suitable as a story for parent to read to their children at any age or for children ages 7 to 10 to read on their own depending on their reading level. At the back of the book there are even some questions for parents and children to talk about and a couple of activities to do together to solidify the idea of being a peacemaker in the home and community.

I loved that the book doesn’t just talk about being a peacemaker and leave it at that but suggests ideas and provides activities to begin to help encourage the child to actively put that desired skill into action.

I truly couldn’t resist requesting to read and review a Berenstain Bears book when I had the opportunity since I grew up reading them and have always loved them. I rated Blessed Are the Peacemakers 5 out of 5. Mike Berenstain writes the books just like his parents. Awesome!


Thank you to the publishers for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

Mike Berenstain grew up watching his parents, Stan and Jan, working together to write and draw these lovable bears. Eventually he started drawing and writing about them too. Mike is married to Andrea and they have three children. They live in Pennsylvania, in an area that looks a lot like Bear Country.


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