The Bear Scouts is a great Berenstain Bears book--my favorite, in fact. Like the other early books, The Bear Scouts features Papa Bear getting into all sorts of trouble, trying to show off and do things his way.

I've always liked the story in this book best. The troubles Papa Bear finds himself in are much more amusing, to me. And once again, Papa Bear tries to pass off his failures as being intentional ("On second thought--/I'll stay with you./So I can show you/What to do."), and the bear scouts put up with it. Of course, by the end, Papa Bear has learned his lesson, and he's reading the Bear Scout Guidebook, looking a bit sheepish.

It may be nostalgia coloring my perceptions, but I like the writing better, too--it seems to flow a little better than the two earlier books I've read. I always enjoyed Papa's "and BRING THAT BOOK!" near the end quite a lot.

The illustrations are wonderful and colorful, and amusing, too. I especially like Papa's stew, but the illustration inside the cover is very nice, too--actually, I think it'd make a great desktop wallpaper. Do you hear me, publishers? That's the kind of wallpaper I want! There are actually a few wallpapers available, but they're not so nice, in my opinion.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's funny and wonderful, and it holds up well even after all these years--I certainly still enjoy it. This one seems to be available only on paper--I couldn't find a Kindle version, which seems a little odd, since the earlier books are in the Kindle store. Well, it's okay--these things are better on paper, anyway. Kindle or no, I'm sure kids will be enjoying it for years to come.