Dealing with Prejudices
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The
Berenstain Bears’ New Neighbours
is one of many in the Bear family book series by Stan and Jan Berenstain. In
this story, the family’s neighbours have moved to another town, leaving them to
speculate on what the new residents would be like. The next day, Brother and
Sister notice some bears they had not seen in the neighbourhood before: a
family of pandas. Right away, the whole Bear family is anxious to welcome the
Panda family – except for Papa, who thinks they’re “too different”. Eventually,
however, he gets to know the family well enough to discover that they are very
likeable bears.
Positive Medium: [*]
Positive Medium: [*]
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This is a positive
medium because it has an interesting way of teaching children about prejudices
and the problem with making assumptions. In New
Neighbours, Papa misinterprets the row of bamboo in the Pandas’ front yard
as a “spite fence”. He then uses this assumption to confirm his suspicion that
they may be hiding something from them. Later in the book, Peter, one of the
Panda cubs, informs Brother that the bamboo is in fact for cooking and certainly
not for any kind of fence.
The agency of change with regard to prejudice is quite evident in this book, and mirrors the reality of prejudice the way we understand it. The impressive part is that it does not have to directly mention race or ethnicity, substituting people with bears to address this major issue. Hopefully, children – humans or cubs – can learn to overcome and appreciate difference rather than use it as a barrier between one another. Of course, this is consistent with other Berenstain Bears books, which have been made to teach children about morals and the consequences of their actions, hence the high rating.
Rating: 9
The agency of change with regard to prejudice is quite evident in this book, and mirrors the reality of prejudice the way we understand it. The impressive part is that it does not have to directly mention race or ethnicity, substituting people with bears to address this major issue. Hopefully, children – humans or cubs – can learn to overcome and appreciate difference rather than use it as a barrier between one another. Of course, this is consistent with other Berenstain Bears books, which have been made to teach children about morals and the consequences of their actions, hence the high rating.
Rating: 9