Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food (First Time Books(R))

Top positive review

One of my son's favorite books

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2018

I bought this for my son (3 yrs.) to curb his poor eating habits before they truly get started. This turned out to be one of his favorite Berenstain Bears books. He loves the section where they examine each system within the body at the doctor's office, like the nervous system and the organs, and how good food affects each of these systems. He still enjoys his junk food, but he's not super crazy about it like the kids in this book are.

2 people found this helpful

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JessWS

Outdated in So Many Ways

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2018

I ordered this book because I wanted something to help me with teaching my four-year-old about “sometimes foods.” I wanted something that promoted moderation with treats and the importance of healthy foods for growing bodies.

Clearly I should have done more research. This book does not promote moderation or good health. It promotes body shaming and the importance of being thin.

The mom doesn’t give the junk food a second thought until she notices her kids getting fat and becomes completely disgusted with them. She takes them to the doctor who agrees that they are fat and disgusting and even pinches the dad’s stomach fat (boundaries?!?!) to shame him for his weight as well. So they all get put on an exercise regimen (to be clear - the kids have to work out to lose weight, there’s nothing here about kids just playing and exercising because it’s fun) and a permanent diet. And they all got to a socially acceptable weight and never ate junk food again. The end.

I threw this book in the trash. Please don’t buy it.

61 people found this helpful

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From the United States

JessWS

Outdated in So Many Ways

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

61 people found this helpful

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A.Fowl

Not good for body image!!

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

I remembered this from childhood and bought it for my daughter who has a sweet tooth, hoping to help steer her toward healthy snacks. As I was reading to her I had to skip a lot of parts that seemed to focus on weight and the cubs looking big - I didn’t like the focus on their bodies, rather than health. My husband read it to her and didn’t edit, and later I broke out in a cold sweat when I saw my 3 yo looking dismayed and pinching her little baby tummy like the doctor does to papa bear!!! I struggled with body image and had brushes with anorexia as a teen and young adult, and I do NOT want to plant those seeds in my daughter’s mind at such a young age! We won’t be reading this again. We can work on healthy eating without the body shaming.

45 people found this helpful

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Alizabelle

Don't buy this

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

I am a child of the 80's, so there is a very special, nostalgiac place in my heart for Berenstain Bears books. I have been buying several books from this series for my toddler, who enjoys looking at the back cover and picking out other ones she wants next. She zeroed in on the junk food one, so....I bought this one without remembering much of the content, and I've gotta say, the content of this book may have been appropriate in the 80's (maybe not!), but for 2018, this book is inappropriate. Mama Bear measures her kids and sort of fat shames them into eating "healthy". Listen, I'm not one of these crazy PC people, but the content of this is just not appropriate. Healthy foods touted by Mama include carrots, raisins and FROZEN YOGURT at the mall (how very 80s and 90s)! I was surprised Mama didn't just wire all their mouths shut; would have been easier. Anyway, many of the Bears books are timeless (e.g. Messy Room), but this one needs to go into the NO section.

32 people found this helpful

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Ellyn Satter

I thought Mama Bear had more sense

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

Ordinarily, I enjoy the Berenstain Bears books, but this one is a poster book for bad feeding! I really thought Mama Bear had more sense! Instead of doing her jobs with feeding, she is letting those cubs eat whenever and whatever they want, raiding the pantry, eating in front of the TV, in the mall, at the movies. To address the problem of poor eating and cubs’ getting chubby, she goes to the draconian other extreme: putting all the high-fat, high-sugar goodies in the freezer and sentencing her family, ever after, to eating the RIGHT STUFF—and we all know what that is! She even recruits a finger-shaking doctor whom I wouldn’t let within a mile of my grandchildren! This being fiction, the cubs and even Father go along with her food program, lose weight, run a race, are happy ever after. In your dreams, Berenstains! You are going to have to write a sequel, where Brother, Sister, and yes, Father, go sloping off to get their “forbidden” foods and eat them on the sly. Mama will find wrappers under Brother and Sister’s mattresses and smell Godiva chocolate in Father’s locked desk drawer. So let’s rewind to the “big change” page and, instead, have Mama decide to follow a division of responsibility in feeding: She will have structured meals and sit-down snacks. Brother and Sister can’t help themselves to food whenever they want, but they don’t have to eat exclusively “healthy” food, either. Instead, Mama can include dessert and chips at mealtime and, let them have as much cookies and candy (which also contribute nutrients, I might add) as they want for occasional sit-down snacks. At first, the cubs and Father will eat a lot of them, but then they will discover that those foods are not such a big deal after all. They will eat moderately, they will lose weight, run a race, enjoy their food, and be happy ever after.

11 people found this helpful

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Aurora Dawn

Body Shaming

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

I thought long and hard and then discreetly made this book disappear when my son wasn't looking. It had good nutritional information, but also a lot of fat shaming. My son is normal weight, but I don't want my kids presented with anything that could lead to body shame of any kind. I've suffered with eating disorders and I know that road leads to nothing good. I want my kids to have healthy, normal relationships with food and their bodies.

12 people found this helpful

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Brad B

Kids love this book. Cut the bad page out yourself.

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

Simply cut out the offensive page of this book yourself ( the fat-shaming page that calls the cubs chubby several times), and you’ve got a winner! The story still makes perfect sense. Even with the offending page cut out, there is still one sentence where Mama first notices the cubs getting chubby. I just took one of the included stickers and covered up that sentence.
I left in the part where the doctor pinches Papa’s belly fat. It’s funny.
Kids like this book, but it contains insensitive, outdated 1980’s body image portrayals. I don’t want my young daughters to obsess over their body fat percentage, or call other kids “Chubby.”
There’s lots of great stuff about how the body works and which healthy food helps each system. My 5-year-old loves it.

5 people found this helpful

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Stephanie

I would skip this one...

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

We love the Berenstain Bears and have most of the books. I would caution you to skip this one. While I know the message they are trying to convey about health and nutrition, it talks about the kids getting “chubby” and grabbing Papa’s stomach to see the weight he has gained. It’s just a very outdated message and not the way I want to present health to my children. Just a heads up if this is something important to you as well!

One person found this helpful

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L GM

Not my favorite...

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

Doesn't really talk about the bad side of eating junk food except for the fact that it can make you fat....

2 people found this helpful

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Casey May

One of my son's favorite books

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

2 people found this helpful

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Brittney A.

Great stories for family lessons

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book by far is my most memorable and favorite book as a child. I only wish I had saved it, but I have repurchased this book to read to my son. The pictures are captivating and the storyline is entertaining. And it really is a life lesson that plagues families today. Great story 5 out of 5

One person found this helpful

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The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food (First Time Books(R))

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