“He's her own brother, but Sister is pleased when the tables are turned and Brother gets teased.”
—Opening quote
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Teasing is a Berenstain Bears book that was published on October 3, 1995.
The book was later adapted into "The Berenstain Bears and Mighty Milton", an episode of the 2003 series The Berenstain Bears.
Summary[]
Brother starts teasing Sister because he thinks it's funny, but when Too-Tall and his friends start teasing Brother, he learns a lesson. Meanwhile, a boy named Milton Chubb is new to Bear Country School, and Too-Tall gets a lesson in how looks aren't everything.
Plot[]
Brother and Sister both had things that they agreed on, but they both had their differences when it came to favorites, such as colors, ice cream flavors, and favorite films. However, one thing they didn't particularly agree on was teasing, as Brother enjoyed teasing Sister, who disliked it. After Sister tells Mama, she gives Brother a lesson on how teasing wasn't a good idea and Sister a lesson on not being so sensitive. Papa chimes in, calling Mama "Ookums Snookums" and tickling her chin, both of which Mama disliked.
Brother agreed with Mama how teasing wasn't a good idea, but one day at Bear Country School, Brother's teacher tells him that Mr. Honeycomb wanted to see him in his office, to which Brother goes there while feeling worried. In the office, Mr. Honeycomb asks Brother to be the special messenger to deliver messages to different classrooms then sends him back to class. Back in class, word about Brother's job got around quickly. Too-Tall and his friends start teasing Brother during class, in the schoolyard, and on the bus. Sister reminded Brother of how she felt when he teased her, and several other cubs echoed Mama's statements about ignoring the teasers. With pent-up anger, Brother was going to fight Too-Tall, but brushed it off as he would get in trouble and lose his job as the messenger.
One morning, Brother feigns an illness to get out of going to school. Mama sends Sister to get the thermometer, with her adding that Brother has the "teasing virus". After taking Brother's temperature, Mama orders the cubs to finish their breakfast as the bus will be there shortly. On the way to school, Brother became worried as the bus pulled towards the school thinking about how much teasing he'll be subject to from Too-Tall and his friends.
As Brother got off the bus, he finds Too-Tall picking on an oversized cub named Milton much to his relief. Brother thought to himself that if Too-Tall and them teased Milton, they'd forget about teasing him. That happened to him as the Too-Tall gang teased Milton on the soccer field for kicking the ball into the wrong goal, he missed the fly ball in baseball, and when he bounced the basketball off his foot. Brother, not standing for this, sticks up for Milton by telling Too-Tall to leave him alone. Brother and Milton both go to Farmer Ben's farm, as the latter lives there due to his parents working for him.
After school that day, Brother and Sister go to Farmer Ben's farm to find Milton doing some farming, pitching hay, squirting milk into the barn cat's mouth, and feeding sugar cubes to horses. Milton also shows that his sport is wrestling, which he refers to as "rasslin'". He demonstrates this by body slamming a pig and carrying it back to the pigpen. Brother suddenly hgot an idea.
The next morning at school, Brother takes a note to Coach Grizzmeyer. At gym class later that day, Coach Grizzmeyer announces to the boys that they're forming a wrestling team and has Too-Tall and his gang go against Milton. Just after they put on their wrestling tights, Milton performs his signature move, the Pancake, on all of Too-Tall's friends. After joining the wrestling league, Milton wins all of his matches. Brother and Sister, who were in the grandstands, led the audience in a cheer for Milton.
Brother and Sister both had their likes and dislikes, but they both agree that teasing, while it is a part of life, isn't a good idea.