The Berenstain Bears' New Neighbors

This Berenstain book introduces the issues of bigotry and prejudice very well. Pandas move across the street, and Papa Bear is immediately suspicious and a bit miffed by their arrival. He misunderstands the new bears gestures such as planting bamboo sticks for food, and assumes it is an insulting fence. One really delightful thing about this book is the calm easy accuracy about prejudice. Children will relate to Papa's fears and concerns, but they will also understand how incorrect his feelings are when the children bears befriend each other. It shows how easy it is too make an untrue and unfair assumption about another individual. (Interestingly enough, unlike the Arthur books by Marc Brown, this is one of the very few Berenstain Bear books with different looking animals!) The book really works!