The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners Electronic book published by ipicturebooks.com 24 W. 25th St.

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Copyright (c) 1985 by St an and Jan Berenstain Originally published by Random House in 1985

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

e-ISBN: 1-59019-232-X

Ebook conversion by wTree.com

There was trouble in the big tree house down a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country-trouble with manners.

The Bear family's trouble with manners was that they forgot them!

At first it was just an

occasional "please" or "thank you" that was forgotten.

Then there was a rude push

without an "excuse me."

Then a reach across the table instead of a "please pass the broccoli."

Mama Bear wasn't quite sure how or why it happened. But she was sure of one thing-whatever the reason, the Bear family had become a pushing, shoving, name-calling, ill-mannered mess!

At the table it was even worse. They were a grabbing, mouth-stuffing, food-fighting, kicking-under-the-table super mess!

Of course, Mama Bear tried to correct Brother and Sister Bear's behavior.

She tried coaxing.

She tried complaining.

She tried shouting!

She tried going to Papa for

help (though it sometimes

seemed to Mama that he was

part of the problem).

Papa banged on the

table and shouted as

only he could shout.

But nothing really

seemed to do any good.

Mama didn't like what was

happening to her family. Not one bit. Something had to be done. But what? The best way to fight bad habits, she thought, was with good habits. Then she thought of a plan. She got a big piece of cardboard and a marker.

At the top she wrote:

THE BEAR FAMILY POLITENESS PLAN

When the plan was finished,

she called a family meeting and showed it to Papa and the cubs.

It certainly got the Bear family's attention!

Mama's plan had a list of all the rude things she wanted to stop. Beside each one was a penalty-a job or chore that went with it. If you forgot a "please"

or a "thank you," you had to sweep the front steps. If you pushed or shoved, you had to beat two rugs. If you got caught name calling, you had to clean the whole cellar!

"But, Mama!" sputtered the cubs. "You're not being fair!"

"It seems to me," she said, "that you're the ones who aren't being fair-to yourselves or anyone else. That's what manners are all about-being fair and considerate. Manners are very important They help us get along with each other.

Why, without manners-"

"Your mama's absolutely right!"

interrupted Papa.

"Thank you, Papa, for your comment.

But interrupting is number three on the Rude List, and the penalty is dusting the downstairs," Mama said, and handed him the feather duster.

"Hmm," said Brother. "This looks serious.

I think we'd better come up with a plan of our own or were going to be doing a lot of extra chores."

"What sort of plan?" asked Sister.

"Well," he said, "instead of just being polite, we'll be super polite. We'll ‘please’ and 'thank you' so much that Mama will get fed up and call the whole thing off!"

"Yes," said Sister. "We'll be so polite, she won't be able to stand it!"

They put their plan into action.

They were super polite...

—on the stairs;

"After you, Sister dear!"

"Thank you, dear Brother!"

—in the hall:

"Excuse me, Brother

dear!"

"Why, certainly, my

dear Sister!"

—waiting for the

bathroom:

'Terribly sorry to have

kept you waiting!"

'Think nothing of it,

my dear!"

But it didn't work the way they expected.

Mama didn't get fed up at all. And after a while Brother and Sister forgot about being super polite and were

just polite...

—at the table:

"Pass the honey,

please."

"Certainly."

—in their room:

"Would you like me to

help you pick up your toys?"

"Thank you very much."

—in the yard:

"Oops! Sorry-I didn't

mean to bump you."

"That's all right. No

harm done."

And it turned out that Mama had been right: things did go more smoothly. Once they got into the good manners habit, they didn't even have to think about it.

But it wasn't so easy for Papa. He was the one who got fed up. It's a little harder to change habits when you're older, and he had to do quite a few extra chores for forgetting his manners.

"I'm glad to get out of the house, away from that Politeness Plan!" he said as he drove the family along the highway on a trip to the supermarket.

"Manners and courtesy are just as important away from home—especially on the road," said Mama as they stopped at a stop sign to let pedestrians and other cars pass.

"They help us drive safely."

"Well," grumbled Papa as they all went into the busy supermarket, "I think you can have too much of a good thing-you've got to have common sense along with manners! Why, if you let everyone go ahead of you at the checkout, you'd be there forever!

"And sometimes you have to interrupt-Excuse me, madam," he interrupted a shopper, "but I believe you have a leaking bottle in your cart!" The shopper thanked him for his help.

"You see?" he said, driving home.

"There's more to life than remembering your manners. Besides, manners are all right for cubs and mama bears...

"... but we papa bears have other things to think about—" At that moment the car in front stopped suddenly and Papa bumped into it.

He was furious. "Why, that pinheaded fiddlebrain!" he snarled.

"Name calling!" reminded Sister.

The penalty for name calling was cleaning the whole cellar, so Papa gritted his teeth and remembered his manners. And a good thing, too. Because climbing out of the other car was the biggest, angriest bear he had ever seen!

But when the angry bear saw how polite Papa was, he remembered his manners too. He explained that he had stopped short because a mama duck and her ducklings had crossed in front of him. Then he and Papa Bear looked at their bumpers and saw that no harm had been done.

"As I was saying," said Papa as they continued on their way, "it's very important for us to remember our manners at all times-and I want to thank you, Sister, for reminding me to remember mine."

"You're very welcome, I'm sure,"

said Sister Bear politely.