Cover art copyright © 2002 by Berenstain Enterprises, Inc.
Copyright © 1962 by Stanley and Janice Berenstain.
Copyright renewed 1990 by Stanley and Janice Berenstain.
All rights reserved under International and Pan‑American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Originally published by Random House, Inc., in 1962.
www.randomhouse.com/kids
www.berenstainbears.com
This title was originally cataloged by the Library of Congress as follows:
Berenstain, Stanley.
The big honey hunt, by Stanley and Janice Berenstain.
[New York] Beginner Books [1962] 63 p. illus. 24cm. (Beginner Books. B‑28)
I. Berenstain, Janice, joint author. II. Title.
PZ8.3.B4493Bi 62‑15115
eISBN: 978-0-375-98315-3
BEGINNER BOOKS, RANDOM HOUSE, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
THE CAT IN THE HAT logo ® and © Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. 1957, renewed 1986.
All rights reserved.
v3.1
We ate our honey.
We ate a lot.
Now we have no honey
In our honey pot.
Go get some honey.
Go get some more.
Go get some honey
From the honey store.
We will go for honey.
Come on, Small Bear!
We will go for honey
And I know where.
The store …
She said to
Get it there!
Not at the store.
Oh, no, Small Bear.
If a bear is smart,
If a bear knows how,
He goes on a honey hunt.
Watch me now!
How do you hunt it?
How, Dad, how?
If a bear knows how,
If a bear is smart,
He looks for a bee
Right at the start.
Bees hide their honey
In trees that are hollow.
So we will find
A bee to follow.
Is that a bee?
He went, “Buzz! Buzz!”
He looks like a bee.
Why, yes!
He does.
We will follow that bee …
We will follow that bee …
We will follow that bee
To his honey tree.
That tree!
Is that a honey tree?
It looks like one
So I know it’s one.
Sit down, Small Bear,
And watch the fun.
Small Bear, you watch
Your smart old Dad
Take out more honey
Than you ever had.
Are you getting honey?
Are you getting a lot?
Will we take home honey
In our honey pot?
That is not
A honey bee!
That was not
A honey tree.
The bee!
The bee!
There goes the bee!
On with the honey hunt!
Follow your Pop.
Your Pop will find honey
At the very next stop.
We will follow, and follow …
And follow along!
I will find a new tree
And I won’t be wrong.
Is that a honey tree?
How do you know?
Well, it looks just so.
And it feels just so.
Looks so. Feels so.
So it’s SO!
Now watch, Small Bear.
I am about
To take that
Good old honey out.
How are you doing?
Are you getting a lot?
Are you getting much honey?
Or are you not?
Wrong kind of tree!
Wrong kind of tree!
Look, Dad!
There goes
Your friend the bee!
On with the hunt!
I will not rest.
I will follow that bee
To his honey nest!
When a bear is smart,
When a bear is clever,
He never gives up.
And I won’t, ever!
Dad!
Is that
A bee tree there?
I know it is.
Why, yes, Small Bear.
It can’t be wrong
Like the last tree was.
Only a bee tree
Goes, “Buzz! Buzz!”
Are you getting honey?
Are you doing well?
Or is something wrong?
I smell a smell.
Wrong kind of tree!
Wrong kind of tree!
The bee!
The bee!
I see the bee!
If you want to get honey,
There is just one way.
You must follow your bee
If it takes all day.
If a bear is smart,
If a bear is bright,
A bear keeps going
If it takes all night.
He went in there!
Your friend the bee!
He went in there!
Is this our tree?
Now let me think.
Now let me see …
This looks just like
A honey tree.
And …
It feels
Just like
A honey tree.
And …
It goes, “Buzz! Buzz!”
Like a honey tree.
And …
It tastes
Just like
A honey tree!
And so
You see
This tree must be—
Must, must, must be
A honey tree!
I never saw
More honey! Never!
Now don’t you think
Your Dad is clever?
I think you are
Very clever, Dad.
But your friends the bees
Are very mad!
But Dad!
You left
The honey there!
It was not
The kind I want,
Small Bear.
I will get you honey.
I said I would.
But that bee’s honey
Was not too good.
Where are you going
To find the honey?
Here in the water?
Now that seems funny.
No, we won’t find honey
In here, Small Bear.
But soon, very soon
I will show you where.
When the bees have gone,
We will get along, too.
Your Dad is smart,
And he knows what to do.
But how will you
Do it, Dad?
How, Dad? How?
The best sort of honey
Never comes from bees.
It comes from a store.
I would like some,
Please.
According to Papa Bear, a bear must use his “smarts” to search for honey. When he brings Brother Bear along on a hunt for honey, it takes more than a few missteps to outsmart the Bears.
Annotation
Papa Bear tries to teach Small Bear how to find honey in a honey tree.