“Is it so important that he and she-bears aren't the same when what really matters is how we play the game?”
—Opening quote
The Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed is a book in the Berenstain Bears series that was published on February 1, 1986.
It was later adapted into an episode of the same name for the 1985 animated series The Berenstain Bears.
Summary[]
Brother, Cousin Freddy, and their friend get sick of Sister tagging along with them every time they played games. Eventually, Sister outperforms the boys in everything they do and goes as far as gloating about her victories. In retaliation, Brother and his friends create a club that prevents girls from joining. Mama and Papa teach both the boys and Sister that being a sore loser, as well as a sore winner, is never a good thing.
Plot[]
When Sister was a young cub, she always tagged along with Brother and her friends. She slowed the boys down while they were running, she couldn't climb a tree as high as them, and while playing marbles, the one Sister prepares to launch slips out of her hand. However, when Sister got older, she could outrun Brother and his friends, climb trees higher than them, and knock all of their marbles out of the game.
Mama and Papa later watch a group of boys play baseball with Sister. Mama becomes worried that Sister was being a bad sport, as she celebrates every victory she got by cheering and doing cartwheels, leaving the boys angered. One day, Sister went out to look for Brother and his playmates, but they were nowhere to be seen. She passed the time picking flowers and jumping rope with butterflies. The next day, Brother was not around, and Sister passed the time by having a tea party with her stuffed animals and reading books.
On the third day, Sister goes to look for the boys at their usual meetup spots, but she did not find a single trace of them at the climbing tree, the dirt ring where they played marbles, or at the baseball field. Sister then hears voices nearby then eyes a thicket. She goes there to find Brother and a few other boy cubs on Berrybush Island at Frog Pond building a clubhouse. She greets them then does her celebration dance. Angered at her behavior, the boys put up a sign that says "Bear Country Boys Club: NO GIRLS ALLOWED" out front and they let up the drawbridge.
Upset, Sister ran home crying. She tells Papa how the boys aren't being fair, to which he agrees and decides to take Sister to the Bear Country Boys Club to make them let Sister join or he would destroy the clubhouse. As Papa and Sister head out the front door, Mama tells them both that while the boys are being unfair, girls act that way too, and adds that Sister can't make cubs want to play with her. Sister disagrees, but says that she can tear the boys limb from limb.
Mama suggests building a clubhouse exclusively for girls, and Papa adds to the idea by using an old climbing tree. Sister readily agrees to the idea by putting up a sign that says "NO BOYS ALLOWED", but Mama says that the first thing about having a club is members. Word about Sister's clubhouse gets around quickly, as many other girl cubs that disliked the idea of being left out joined in. Lizzie crafted a rope ladder, Ellen gave Sister a spyglass, and Marsha builds a tin-can phone system. Papa aids the girls in building the clubhouse while Sister paints the sign, declaring that the boys were being bad losers when she took all their marbles and outhit them during a game of baseball.
Mama overhears Sister and takes her aside. She tells Sister that in addition to sore losers, there's also sore winners. Sister knew what Mama was talking about, but declared that it wasn't fair. Mama helps the boy and girl cubs work things out by having a barbecue with honeycomb and salmon. The smell reaches the Bear Country Boys Club and the boys all flock to the girls club where they both have honeycomb and salmon. Brother invites the girls back to the boys club for dessert where the berry crop is ripe for picking. Sister agrees to the idea and Brother races ahead of her to change the sign to "Bear Country Boys Club: GIRLS WELCOME!" just as Sister, the girls, and the boys head in.
Characters[]
- Brother Bear
- Sister Bear
- Cousin Freddy Bear
- Mama Bear
- Papa Q. Bear
- Unnamed boy cub
- Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bruin
Differences in the TV episode[]
- Sister has a butterfly friend with her.
- The flashback to when the cubs were younger is presented as the Bear family looking through a photo album and watching some of Papa's home movies.
- While Sister was doing her war whoops at Brother’s clubhouse, he and his friends crank up the drawbridge, showing a sign that says “No Girls Allowed!” underneath the drawbridge.
- In the book, Sister runs home crying while in the episode, she walks home crying.
- In the book, Sister has many girl cubs in the club but in the episode there were only a few.
- The episode ends with the butterfly doing the war whoops like Sister did.
Trivia[]
- Moral: Be a good sport. Don't gloat about winning or fuss about losing.