| Book Title (Puppet) | Unique ISBN | Published | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go to the Doctor (Dr Bearson puppet) | 0394888898 | April 1987 | #3 in the First Time Books series |
| Visit the Dentist (Dr Grizzle) | 0394888944 | April 1987 | #6 |
| Messy Room (Sister) | 0394888928 | April 1987 | #10 |
| Get in a Fight (Brother) | 0394888936 | April 1987 | #8 |
| The Sitter (Mrs Grizzle) | 0394888901 | April 1987 | #5 |
| Go to School (Teacher) | 039488888X | April 1987 | #2 |
| The Truth (Mama) | 0394897943 | April 1988 | #12 |
| Forget Their Manners (Papa) | 0394897986 | April 1988 | #17 |
| New Baby (Baby Bear) | 039489796X | August 1988 | #1 |
| Meet Santa Bear (Santa Bear) | 0394897978 | August 1988 | #15 |
| Trouble at School (Gramps) | 0394827155 | April 1990 | #26 |
| Weekend at Grandma’s (Gran) | 0394827147 | April 1990 | #22 |
During the height of The Berenstain Bears’ popularity, special editions of First Time Books were published in promotional packages with cloth hand puppets featuring prominent characters from the stories/series. The first wave of puppets came out in 1987 (6 in total), with four more in 1988, and two additional titles in 1990.
Interestingly, the books bore a unique ISBN number that was different than the standard commercial printing. Along with the cloth hand puppet, the books were packaged inside plastic sleeves with a large gold sticker advertising “Book With Puppet” or “Book With Your Own Role-Playing Puppet.” The standard retail price for most Berenstain Bears books in 1997-1998 was $1.95 and the book/puppet combo packs were sold for a suggested retail price of $2.95. Only an extra dollar for the cute, soft puppet!
Naturally, the puppets were used by countless children and many were worn out, thrown away, or forgotten about. This makes collecting the puppets today very difficult, especially if you are trying to find puppets with the original books (remember they have a unique ISBN number!) and the plastic sleeve.
It took me many years, but I finally completed my quest of acquiring a complete set of originals in mid-2026!
How many do you have? (Collect them all!)
(See below how some of the 1987-1988 puppet packs were re-issued in 1990 with new copyright)
