The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas (Berenstain Bears) (ISBN 006052670X)

A new "tradition" in our house:
This book would be great for any family that is feeling overwhelmed with Christmas! It is a reminder to us all that Christmas has been lost in the decorating, the endless "I want" lists, artificial trees, light shows, etc... Santa Bear sees all of this happening in Bear Country and is very saddened by this and considers cancelling Christmas...One family shows him that their simple family Christmas still exists and Santa Bears faith in the old fashioned Christmas is renewed...The rhyming makes it easy for the kids to follow

Nice Book.... If You're a Pantheist....:
Interesting how a book that professes to be about the real reason for CHRISTmas never brings Him into this story. I particularly disliked the line in the ending carol that stated how they would "pay homage to the stars above"... on Christmas? To celestian bodies? Interesting. Christ is how Chistmas is saved. A mirroring of the gospel message fits nicely here without a stretch... not some panteistic parable about how good finally wins over bad... and then in our "oneness" with this inner good we're compeled to pay homage to stars and such. This book was jettisoned from our collection as have all secular centric Christmas tales. It may seem like an over-reaction however our children are assaulted with the secular (read:worldly) things... no... they are pummeled with them. Christmas is about Him. Don't dilute it. In His Name...

Probably not one of the Berenstain's best efforts:
I should have read this book before purchasing it but trusting the Berenstain's series, I went ahead and bought it. Well, to be honest, it's VERY negative! It's written as a poem in the same style as "The Night Before Christmas" and quite frankly, it gets quite tedious reading it for about 20 pages. The message is good - it talks about how everyone in Bear Country gets caught up in all the business and the "outdoing" of each other in Christmas decorations, and Santa is quite upset and even mad over all of it. The illustrations of Santa here are quite vivid - not at all like the nice faces on the regular bears faces. So, as a hint, this book isn't for the younger than 5 set in my opinion. The bit in the end about worshipping the stars is quite ridiculous. Golly, where on earth did that come from? Sure was weird and as a writer, I just reword things as I go and that definitely was an edit! All in all, I really don't recommend this one - it needs a rewrite and I'm quite suprised it made it through an editor's desk. It is far too negative and something that isn't read too much in this house. What a disappointment! Think our copy may wind up in the Salvation Army donation box! That said, Santa decides that since he sees ONE family that keeps the true spirit of Christmas, that he will go on and deliver all of his gifts. So, that's how the Berenstain Bears saved Christmas. Gee, better efforts next time guys!

Badly written:
There really isn't much to be said for this book. It is written in the style of The Night Before Christmas but the wording is very tedious and does not flow at all. As another poster mentioned, it needs a rewrite. This book does not mention god, rather dances around the topic. Personally as an atheist (yes, one who enjoys the season), I was glad for that and yet the message was very watered down. There was no warmth and joy, or perhaps it just seemed that way because I so hated reading it. I usually don't hesitate in choosing Berenstain Bears, but now I'll look twice.

A Great Christmas Lesson:
This is a wonderful addition to the Berenstain Bear library. It tells a nice story with a helpful anti-materialistic Christmas message. It's a good way to counter the buy, buy, buy message that kids are bombarded with from the media. The illustrations are beautiful, too--there's a lovely scene of the bear family in a sleigh in the snow at the end.