“When little bears want the same toys as their friends, they may hook into a craze that just never ends.”
—Opening quote
The Berenstain Bears' Mad, Mad, Mad Toy Craze is a book in the Berenstain Bears series. It was published by Random House on March 16, 1999.
Synopsis[]
There is a new toy on the market called Beary Bubbies, and Brother and Sister just have to get them. However, they learn that fads don't last forever.
Plot[]
As Mama was checking the TV schedule and Papa was reading the afternoon newspaper, Brother and Sister race home and breathlessly ask for advances on their allowances because Herb's Hobby Shop was selling Beary Bubbies, which Brother describes as "terrific, great, and fabulous" and Sister describing them as "cute and adorable", and they were running out. According to the cubs, Cousin Fred has six Beary Bubbies while Lizzy Bruin has eight and Queenie McBear has ten. Papa pulls out his wallet and gives the cubs some money to go and buy Beary Bubbies, to which they take it and bolt out the front door. Mama recalls seeing a sign on the window of Herb's Hobby Shop saying that it had Beary Bubbies for $2.95. Papa remarks how sensible cubs get pulled into fads while going back to his newspaper while Mama agrees and goes back to looking at the TV schedule. Meanwhile, the cubs were racing to Herb's Hobby Shop to get their Beary Bubbies, and luckily for them, they bought the last three Beary Bubbies that Herb had for sale.
Back at the treehouse, Brother and Sister introduce their Beary Bubbies: Ziggy Zippo, Dimple Darling, and Hairy Harry, to Mama and Papa. The next day, the cubs propose to Papa that they won't ask for any more advances on their allowances if Papa hires them to do chores so they can buy more Beary Bubbies. Brother tells Papa that Lizzy is selling a one-of-a-kind Beary Bubby for $5.00 while Queenie is selling one for $7.00. Papa then believes that buying and selling Beary Bubbies sounds like a pretty good business. Mama, who was reading the newspaper, tells Papa about a person who purchased a bunch of Beary Bubbies before they became popular and sold his entire collection for a fortune. He quickly snatches the newspaper out of her hands.
The cubs then spent the next couple of days pulling wears, sorting trash, and cleaning out cobwebs to figure out how they were going to get more Beary Bubbies. Later, Papa was reading in a Beary Bubbies magazine that there was a rare Beary Buddy that sold in Bearville for hundreds of dollars. The cubs come in the front door to tell Mama and Papa about a rumor that there was a shipment of Beary Bubbies to TOYS IZ US in Big Bear City. Papa and the cubs race to the car, get in it, and drive off to Big Bear City. Along the way, Sister notices a skywriter writing "BEARY BUBBIES FOREVER" in the sky. At TOYS IZ US, there was a very long line of customers waiting outside the store to get their Beary Bubbies, in which the entire line wrapped around the store. Despite taking a long time to get their Beary Bubbies, Brother and Sister managed to get some of them and Papa drove back home.
Soon after, the Beary Bubbies became popular that they could be found everywhere. Brother found one in a box of Krinkly Krumbles cereal, Sister got one at a gas station while the family car was being filled up with gas, and the cubs got one in a Krazy Meal that they ordered at the Burger Bear. However, the Beary Bubbies couldn't do what most other toys or games could do. Eventually, the Bear Family got so many Beary Bubbies that all they could do was look back at how much money they spent on them. Some other cubs are then shown talking about how many Beary Bubbies they had: With one having twenty-four Beary Bubbies while the other had 4,202.
Cast[]
Trivia[]
- The toy store "Toyz Is Us" is a parody of Toys "R" Us.
- The Beary Bubbies are a reference to the Beanie Babies, which is a line of stuffed toys that was originally created in 1986 but didn't see a significant surge in popularity until 1993.