This week, we’re going to the Credit Union! Bet you thought it would NEVER happen! “The Berenstain Bears Visit the Credit Union” is a remarkably common, yet remarkably difficult to obtain, book in the Bears’ library. You have to join a credit union to get it! Or, watch it on YouTube. Like I did!
Tag: Teacher Bob
Episode 308 – The Berenstain Bears Safe and Sound!
Is it safe? Is it sound? Is it The Berenstain Bears Safe and Sound!? It is this week! Let’s take a look at the freewheeling world of skate-a-ma-boarding in Bear Country! Let’s build a deck or a half-pipe or an olly? Let’s get SAFE and SOUND!
Episode 292 – The Berenstain Bears’ Class Trip!
Life isn’t all bees and poop, but if you listen to this week’s episode, you might think it is! It’s “The Berenstain Bears’ Class Trip!”
Episode 286 – The Berenstain Bears Lost In Cyberspace!
Brandi Brown is back on the show to take us through the frightening world of late ’90s internettery! That’s right, the cubs are on the Information Superhighway and are about to get “Lost In Cyberspace!”
Episode 262 – The Berenstain Bears Go Back To School!
It’s the first week of school here in Minneapolis and things are weird! So, I brought *my* school kid on the show to talk about “The Berenstain Bears Go Back To School” and marvel at a simpler time when everything wasn’t the worst. Enjoy it!
Episode 246 – The Berenstain Bears and the Goofy, Goony Guy
Hey! Mitzi’s back! And we’re talking about a guy who may be goofy and he may be goony but… but, he’s “The Goofy, Goony Guy.” That’s all.
Episode 223 – The Berenstain Bears Go Hollywood!
I’ve been alone so long! This week, I bring back two things that this show desperately needed: the Big Chapter Books and A GUEST! Yes, I am joined by author and screenwriter Mark Wheaton, the author of “Emily Eternal” and the Luis Chavez Mysteries. He’s here to help me pick apart a book about… filmmaking? The Hollywood machine? Cecil B. DeMille? It’s a mess; but a FUN mess!
Episode 210 – The Berenstain Bears Say Please and Thank You (2011)!
This week, I’m taking a look at a book FILLED with BOOKS! It’s 2011’s “The Berenstain Bears Say Please and Thank You” and it’s NOT related to last week’s book at all! It’s a whole new thing entirely!
Episode 188 – The Berenstain Bears’ Report Card Trouble!
Papa get angry. Papa get mad. It’s “The Berenstain Bears’ Report Card Trouble” and . . . it’s a retread of an older book really.
Episode 170 – The Homework Hassle!
We’re back with an ACTUAL BOOK! It’s exciting! You know what else is exciting? Homework. Wrong! It’s Brian Skinner! Brian Skinner is exciting and he’s back on the show to talk about taxes, homework, radio shows, peanut butter and not doing your assignments! It’s a meandering conversation that sometimes comes back around to “The Berenstain Bears and the Homework Hassle!”
Check out Brian and his lovely co-host Josh on their Show Predict-O-Cast!
Episode 155 – The G-Rex Bones!
This week, I’m joined by Erin Ayers – one half of the Over the Table Top podcast – to discuss a tale of fraud and dinosaurs. It’s “The Berenstain Bears and the G-Rex Bones!” How far will Ralph go to secure a million dollars? Pretty far! Will he sell out his own personal values and ruin the reputation of a fine upstanding bear like Actual Factual? Sure! Will any of this plot make a lick of sense? Nope!
Episode 151 – “Too Much Teasing” and “The Love Match!”
Boy oh boy! Milton Chubb! Who is Milton Chubb, you ask? Only the strangest cub introduced in these here books. He’s introduced TWICE actually, in “Too Much Teasing” and in “The Love Match.” Two different formats that tell essentially the same story but in wildly different ways and for wildly different reasons.
To commemorate this event, I’ve brought John McCoy – host of the Sophomore Lit podcast and my co-host on Klickitcast: A Beverly Cleary Podcast – onto the show to try and suss out the point of these two books. Does the first one teach us anything about teasing? Why are Too-Tall and his gang so bad at it? Does Milton have parents, really? Do pigs have armpits? Who knows?! Not us!
Episode 147 – Go Platinum!
This week, I’m joined by the delightful Drew Stewart to rock out to “The Berenstain Bears Go Platinum!” It’s the gripping tale of Stan and Jan Berenstain really wanting to stick it to the music of today!
Episode 140 – The Berenstain Bears and Queenie’s Crazy Crush!
Helen LaStar, one of the hosts of Falling In Love Montage, joins me this week to peel back the layers of “The Berenstain Bears and Queenie’s Crazy Crush!” What happens when a young girl cub falls in love with a grown man and plots to trick him into coming over to her house when her parents are – you know what? I’m going to just leave that right where I found it. Just . . . just walk away from that one.
Episode 138 – The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Auto Graveyard!
This week, Meghan Griffin is BACK and this time we’re not talking dress codes or drama, we’re talking . . . classic cars. I mean, I guess Bear Country has cars. And, some of them are really old. So . . . classic cars.
You can find Meghan at any of her three podcasts: Judging Book Covers, Fabelulous Retellings and A Handbook for Handbook for Mortals.
Episode 137 – The Bermuda Triangle!
This week, I’m joined by Kacie Galyon to talk about one of the most surprisingly enjoyable books I’ve read so far in the Big Chapter Book series, ‘The Berenstain Bears and the Bermuda Triangle.” Kacie and I are taken somewhat aback by the mature handling of themes in this book, the twists in the plot and the revelation about Too-Tall’s age! Also, Bermuda . . . is that a good first name?
Episode 132 – The Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute (Anymore)!
I’m joined this week by Master of Pollution, Mark Sweeney! He gets it! He KNOWS. Mark Sweeney understands the complicated nature of pollution in bear country and the gentle grace with which the topic is handled in “The Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute (Anymore)” parenthetical and all. Get to know us through the fine art of POLLUTION.
Episode 128 – At the Teen Rock Cafe!
It’s ME again! I’m back at my desk and I’m chatting about things like MALLS and STONE-WASHED JEANS and BEARY MANILOW and NOT MURDER THIS TIME.
Episode 119 – Media Madness!
Jon Biegen and Nick Wood slide on over from Stranger Still to talk about children successfully managing a television station. That’s . . . that’s really all that happens in this book, so – so, lesson learned, I guess.
Episode 115 – The Berenstain Bears and the School Scandal Sheet!
Ollie, my teen and co-host of It’s Del Toro Time! – A Guillermo del Toro Podcast, joins me this week to talk “The Berenstain Bears and the School Scandal Sheet!” In which we discuss the terrible things the cubs accuse a teacher of and also divide the cubs into their Hogwarts Houses. IT’s kind of a discussion that goes all over the place. Also, we talk about the importance of owning up to your terrible terrible mistakes how if you’re a cub, you face no consequences for those terrible terrible mistakes.
Episode 113 – The Berenstain Bears and the Giddy Grandma!
Welcome to the world of degraded audio! Please bear with this terrible sounding episode, as I flop around trying to talk about “The Giddy Grandma.” Things didn’t work out according to plan, but I think I get my point across.
Also, I have a Patreon page!
Episode 111 – The Berenstain Bears and the Dress Code!
Meghan Griffin of Judging Book Covers and Fableulous Retellings joins me to talk dress codes, law enforcement and a Berenstain Bears book that gets way more political than we were anticipating!
Episode 108 – The Red-Handed Thief!
What a weird book. Kerry Nelson from Random Sampling joins me to talk about the gross violation of trust that occurs at Bear Country School! Also, democracy in action? Maybe?
Episode 106 – The Berenstain Bears and the Wheelchair Commando!
Today, I am joined by writer, musician, educator and Ninja Turtles Blogger Jamie Tyler to talk about wheelchairs, ableism and the way we approach people living with disabilities. Also, should you call a person in a wheelchair “Wheels?” Come on, people.
Episode 104 – The Berenstain Bears Accept No Substitutes!
It’s a live recording of a Facebook Live show! I’m talking about “Accept No Substitutes” and people are listening. So, that’s what’s going on.
Episode 102 – The Berenstain Bears and the Nerdy Nephew!
What is a nerd? What makes a nerd a “good nerd?” What makes a nerd a “bad nerd?” What makes a nerd an “insufferable jerk?” Let’s explore!
Episode 99 – The New Girl In Town!
This week, I am joined by Jessie Cooper of Alphabet Flight, Turn to Page and Random Sampling as we discuss our first BIG CHAPTER BOOK “The New Girl In Town!” Listeners, this book has got everything. History, romance, racism, war, moaning. Everything.
Episode 95 – READING! “The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble With Grownups”
Enjoy!
Episode 79 – The Berenstain Bears’ Substitute Teacher!
In 1990, Berenstain Bears madness hit that most holy of American institutions: McDonald’s. Four books were made available to hungry children and I’m going to take a look at each one. Are they any good? Well, so far . . . yeah!
In this week’s book, we get a look at Cub Lyfe sans parents. Sans authority. It’s every cub for themselves and the japes and pranks fly. Also, Queenie’s motivations are questioned as well as Brother’s inability to see a pretty girl through a veil of Too-Tall.
What a strange sentence I just typed.
