Berenstain Bears Bibliography & Blog

THIS PART OF MY COLLECTION IS FINALLY COMPLETE!!!

I finally have every edition of The Berenstain Bears Are a Family, The Berenstain Bears Four Seasons, The Berenstain Bears Say Good Night, and The Berenstain Bears at the Super-Duper Market!

The First First Time Books (Random House, 1991) have always been an odd mini-series within the world of Berenstain Bears books (yes, that’s not a typo—they are FIRST First Time Books). These four books were designed to be true “first-time” early readers: books that were significantly shorter and used smaller words and shorter sentences. This series was a spin-off of the best-selling First Time Books series, which focused on first-time life experiences rather than books designed for first-time readers. 

This distinction remains a point of confusion even today. New parents still crack open the classic First Time Books (The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, The Berenstain Bears’ Messy Room, The Berenstain Bears’ New Baby, etc.) and are often surprised by HOW MUCH TEXT there is! In 1991, the new First First Time Books were intended to be different.

What makes collecting these books a little confusing—and frustrating—is that there are several different versions and editions, even though there are only four titles! The original commercial editions were hardcovers published by Random House in 1991, featuring matte hardboard covers and unique fabric-and-glue bindings available in four different colors. At the same time (or shortly thereafter), Random House licensed the books to Scholastic for sale exclusively through its educational market—think school book fairs and monthly book order clubs. Unlike the commercial editions, these Scholastic versions were paperbacks.

BUT WAIT—THERE’S MORE…

Among the Scholastic paperbacks, there were actually two versions of each book. One was a stand-alone edition with its own unique ISBN (and no barcode, as was common at the time for book club editions). The other was an almost identical edition that was packaged with an audio cassette recording of the book. The only way to tell whether a book was originally sold with a cassette is by looking at the back cover, which features a different unique ISBN. The First First Time Books series had a limited run and was soon out of print.

But in 1996, Random House decided to relaunch the four titles as part of its new Toddler Books series. This was a broader Random House line (including titles featuring Little Critter, Sesame Street, and others), rather than a Berenstain Bears-exclusive series like the First First Time Books. The Toddler Books returned to hardcover format (like the original Random House editions) but featured glossy covers and more traditional bindings. Like the original 1991 series, the 1996 Toddler Books had only a limited number of printings before disappearing from store shelves.

Fast forward to 2012, when several back-catalog Berenstain Bears titles were republished by Dover. The market saw beautiful, high-quality bind-ups of vintage Bear Facts Library titles (The Big Book of Science and Nature), coloring and activity books (Giant Coloring and Activity Book), the Do-It! series (First Time Do-It! Book), and The Berenstain Bears Storytime Treasury, a collection containing all four titles from the original First First Time Books series.

For collectors, the cassette tapes (and their accompanying books with unique ISBNs) were produced in the smallest quantities and have proven to be the most difficult to locate over the years. For me personally, the last piece of the puzzle was an authentic cassette tape of The Berenstain Bears at the Super-Duper Market—not only in its original packaging, but still sealed in cellophane. I spent years trying to find this recording until one randomly appeared on eBay, and I immediately received an email alert (thank goodness for saved searches!).

Compare the binding (L to R) of the original 1991 First First Time Books hardcover with colored binding tape; the Scholastic paperback editions; and the 1996 re-release under the “Toddler Books” series branding.