The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
This is Believe, One Network, Every Topic, Everywhere.

**Lisa Bueno** (0:07)
Okay, our friends, so today we are reading a very special Berenstein Bears book for you, because if there's one thing I hear a lot of, it's people saying, can you do more Berenstein Bears books? And I was, yeah, heck yeah, we can. I just need to find the right ones. And so my friends, I found a two-for-one, two stories in one book.
And the first one is called Trouble with Money, and the second one is called Dollars and Cents, and so I'm gonna read these stories back to back for you as a fun surprise. These stories were written by Stan and Jan Berenstein, and they will be read by Mommy and Philip, the Symmetry Guy.

**Philip** (0:54)
The Symmetry Guy?

**Philip** (0:56)
We like balance, don't we?

**Lisa Bueno** (0:58)
Yeah. And the reason why we're doing this is because somebody, the Symmetry Guy, found a penny in our yard.

**Philip** (1:08)
Some pennies are not symmetrical.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:12)
Some pennies are not symmetrical. But I thought to myself, a penny saved is a penny earned.
So we're going to talk about money, and we're going to read some Berenstein Bears books. So the first one is called Trouble with Money, and it says, When little bears spend every nickel and penny, the trouble with money is they never have any.

**Philip** (1:34)
Are you ready? Let's do it.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:36)
Brother and Sister Bear knew quite a lot about the ways of bear country.

**Philip** (1:43)
They knew where the most beautiful wild flowers grew. They knew where the wild berries were the thickest and juiciest.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:55)
They knew the best spot for watching sunrises and sunsets. They knew where all the best honey trees were.
They even knew a very special place where you could almost always see a rainbow.

**Philip** (2:13)
From a secret place behind the waterfall.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:16)
But there were some things they didn't know very much about. And one of the things brother and sister didn't understand very well was money.
They knew money was fun to have and even more fun to spend. And whenever they got some as a present or for doing a chore for a neighbor or no reason at all from grizzly gramps who tended to spoil them. Or from Papa Bear who spoiled them even more. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them to the Bear Country Mall and spent it for honeycomb on a stick.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:56)
A balsa wood glider that did loops. A tiny little mouth organ that only played three notes.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:07)
They never bought anything sensible and they hardly ever saved. Once in a while, sister would put money in her piggy bank, but she usually shook it out again before it had a chance to cool off from her hot little hand.
Brother didn't even have a piggy bank. Mama was becoming concerned about the cubs carefree spendthrift ways.

**SPEAKER_7** (3:34)
With money, I think brother and sister should have a regular allowance.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:40)
She said one evening when she and Papa were working on the family books.

**SPEAKER_8** (3:46)
An allowance?

**SPEAKER_9** (3:48)
Said Papa.

**SPEAKER_7** (3:49)
Yes. So they can learn to use money sensibly to save, to plan ahead.

**SPEAKER_9** (3:58)
No, said Papa.

**SPEAKER_10** (4:00)
They're much too young for that sort of thing.
Let them enjoy themselves. They'll have to worry about money soon enough when they're grown ups.

**SPEAKER_9** (4:13)
He added with a sigh.

**Philip** (4:14)
But it was Papa who first lost patience with their carelessness about money.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:22)
It happened one day when the Cubs had been at the mall spending some pennies a neighbor had given them for walking her dog. That was when they saw the new video game.

**Philip** (4:33)
It was called Astro Bear. And it looked very exciting.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:42)
So we can see them looking in at the arcade and seeing the game, and they hightail at home.

**SPEAKER_11** (4:49)
A video game at the mall?

**SPEAKER_9** (4:53)
Papa shouted, you must think I'm made of money.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:58)
The Cubs thought no such thing. And when they pictured it, it seemed very strange.
Mama could see they were puzzled, and she explained.

**SPEAKER_7** (5:09)
Made of money is just a figure of speech, my dears.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:15)
That's when the Cubs realized that their situation was serious, because Papa Bear only used figures of speech.

**SPEAKER_9** (5:23)
When he was upset, you must think money grows on trees!

**Philip** (5:30)
He shouted another figure of speech.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:34)
And the kids are picturing their Papa if he were made out of money. Doesn't look anything like their real Papa. And they're also picturing a tree growing money on it.