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“When peer pressure rears its ugly head, it's easy for most cubs to be misled.”
—Opening quote
The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare is a book in the Berenstain Bears series. It was published on May 12th, 1988.
It was later adapted into an episode of the same name for the first season of the 2003 TV series The Berenstain Bears.
Summary[]
When Too-Tall takes Sister's jump rope and refuses to give it back to her, Brother wasn't going to stand for it and goes to get it back from him. Unfortunately for Brother, Too-Tall and his gang drag him into doing dares out of peer pressure. With help from Farmer Ben, Brother learns to think for himself and not give into peer pressure.
Plot[]
One day, as Mama was tending to her tomato plants, Papa was off chopping wood in the forest, and Brother was fixing a tangle he had in his fishing line, Sister ran toward Mama and told her that Too-Tall and his gang had taken her jump rope away, and Brother decided to take matters into his own hands. He went to the playground to find Too-Tall playing with Sister's jump rope and demands him to give it back or Brother will cut him down to size.
Too-Tall keeps Brother at arm's length, making Brother swing his fists at him as the rest of the gang joins in on Too-Tall's laugh. Afterwards, Too-Tall returns the jump rope to Brother, who then starts to head back home, but not long after, Too-Tall invites brother to join his gang, but instead of letting Brother leave, a member of the Too-Tall gang calls Brother a chicken, accompanying their taunt by making clucking noises and strutting around.
When Brother says that he's not chicken, he reluctantly follows the Too-Tall gang through the woods, around an old quarry path, across Roaring Creek, and past the Spooky Old Tree. Later, the boys come across Farmer Ben's watermelon patch. There, Too-Tall dares Brother to steal a watermelon, who refuses to do so as Farmer Ben is his friend and stealing is a dishonest thing to do. The gang then flapped their arms and clucked like chickens. After a dare and double dare from Too-Tall and the gang, Brother didn't budge, but after a dee-double-dare, Brother wnet into the fence to pick out the biggest watermelon there was, only for him to be caught by Farmer Ben as he ran out of the cornfield, to which Too-Tall and his gang escaped into the nearby woods.
Brother tells Farmer Ben about what happened starting with Sister's jump rope, the Too-Tall gang calling him a chicken, and how he was dee-double-dared into stealing a watermelon. Farmer Ben explains to Brother that chickens aren't very bright, but they know right from wrong. At the meadow, Farmer Ben shows how the ram heads straight for the highway with a flock of sheep following it, with Shep, Farmer Ben's sheepdog, racing ahead of the sheep and stopping them before they reached the street, demonstrating how sheep follow the leader.
They then eat some watermelon, and Farmer Ben reminds Brother that while being part of a group is okay, it's important to think for himself, especially in regards to what's right and what's wrong. With Farmer Ben's advice in mind, Brother decided to head home by way of the highway, only for him to run into the Too-Tall gang at the bend. Too-Tall tells Brother that he plans on going over to Widder Bruin's house to have fun, but Brother, even after being called a chicken, refuses, with him responding "Baa! Baa! Buncha sheep!" in response.
Suddenly, Two-Ton Grizzly, Too-Tall's father, came out of the woods. He tells his son that he got a call from Farmer Ben about what he did, and says to the gang that if they get into anymore shenanigans, he'd call all of their parents. The gang quickly scurried home while Two-Ton carried Too-Tall by the back of his shirt. Back at the Bear family treehouse, Brother gave Sister her jump rope back then went back to taking care of his tangled fishing line.
Characters[]
Trivia[]
- This book marks the first appearance of Too-Tall's dad, Two-Ton.
- The Spooky Old Tree from The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree appears again.