The Berenstain Bears and the Rowdy Crowd

by Stan Berenstain

  ZONDERKIDZ

  The Berenstain Bears and the Rowdy Crowd

  Copyright © 2020 by Berenstain Publishing, LLC

  Illustrations © 2020 by Berenstain Publishing, LLC

  Portions of this book were previously published with the title The Berenstain Bears The Wrong Crowd © 2001 by Berenstain Enterprises, Inc.

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zonderkidz, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Berenstain, Stan, 1923–2005, author. | Berenstain, Jan, 1923–2012, author. | Berenstain, Mike, 1951-author.

  Title: The Berenstain Bears and the rowdy crowd / by Stan, Jan, and Mike Berenstain.

  Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zonderkidz, [2020] | “Portions of this book were previously published with the title The Berenstain Bears The Wrong Crowd copyright © 2001 by Berenstain Enterprises, Inc.” | Audience: Ages 6–10. | Summary: Sister is worried when Brother joins the Too-Tall gang’s basketball team.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019044514 (print) | LCCN 2019044515 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310768067 (paperback) | ISBN 9780310768104 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780310768098 (epub) | ISBN 9780310768111

  Subjects: CYAC: Bears—Fiction. | Brothers and sisters—Fiction. | Gangs—Fiction. | Basketball—Fiction. | Bullies—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.B4483 Bejs 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.B4483 (ebook) | DDC [E]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044514

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044515

  * * *

  Epub Edition JANUARY 2020 9780310768098

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.

  Art direction: Cindy Davis

  Interior design: Denise Froehlich

  Printed in the United States of America

  * * *

  20 21 22 23 / LSC / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  1

  So far, it had been a fun summer.

  On most days, Sister went to the playground with her best friend, Lizzy Bruin.

  They ran around the track.

  They pushed each other on the swings.

  They jumped rope.

  There was always a third for double Dutch.

  There was another good thing about the playground.

  Teacher Jane was in charge. Teacher Jane was Sister’s teacher. Watching the playground was her summer job.

  There wasn’t a lot of trouble at the playground. But there was some. It was mostly caused by Too-Tall and his gang.

  They pushed and shoved.

  They picked on younger cubs.

  They threw hats into trees.

  They did all the mean things bullies do.

  Then one day, Too-Tall snatched Sister’s best hair bow from her head.

  Sister tried to grab it back. But Too-Tall was too tall!

  Sister screamed and shouted, “Give me back my hair bow, you big bully!”

  Too-Tall laughed down at her.

  Then he threw Sister’s best hair bow up into a tree.

  Sister screamed and shouted some more.

  That was when Brother came along.

  He had been playing basketball with Cousin Fred. Brother marched up to Too-Tall.

  He stood toe-to-toe with Too-Tall. His nose came up to Too-Tall’s chest.

  Too-Tall really was tall.

  “Why don’t you climb up and get Sister’s hair bow?” said Brother.

  “Yeah?” said too-Tall. “What are you gonna do to me if I don’t?”

  Too-Tall stood nose-to-nose with Brother. He had to bend down to do it. It was scary how big he was.

  But Brother stood his ground.

  “If you don’t—” began Brother.

  That was when Teacher Jane came over.

  “What seems to be the problem?” she asked.

  Sister said, “Too-Tall threw my best hair bow into the tree.”

  “I just asked him to climb up and get it down,” added Brother.

  “That sounds like a good idea to me,” said Teacher Jane to Too-Tall. “And after you’ve done that, I’d like you and your gang to please leave the playground. Bullies aren’t welcome here.”

  Too-Tall grumbled. But he climbed up the tree. He got the hair bow. He gave it back to Sister.

  Then he took his gang and left.

  “Thanks, Brother,” said Sister.

  But Brother was staring off after Too-Tall and his gang.

  2

  At the playground a few days later, Brother was by himself shooting free throws. There was a buzz.

  The Too-Tall gang was back again.

  They headed right for the court.

  Skuzz caught the ball and bounced it hard.

  “This court’s ours now,” said Skuzz. “Get lost.”

  But then something strange happened.

  “Leave him alone,” said Too-Tall.

  “What?” Skuzz said.

  “I said leave him alone.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  Skuzz and the rest of the gang backed off.

  Brother stared at Too-Tall. Was the big guy trying to make friends?

  Brother wondered why big, scary Too-Tall would want to be friends with a goody-goody like himself.

  Was it because he had stood up to him the other day?

  The next minute, Brother found out why.

  “I’ve been watching you play this summer,” said Too-Tall. “You’ve got the makings of a pretty good point guard.”

  Brother couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Too-Tall thought he was good?

  Too-Tall went on. “Want to play some real basketball? Forget about this baby playground. Play with us. We’ve got a team of our own. Our court is in the woods behind the junkyard. Meet you there in an hour.”

  Brother felt ten feet tall.

  “Okay!” he said.

  He couldn’t believe he had said yes. What if his parents found out? They’d ground him forever.

  Everybody knew about the Too-Tall gang.

  Everybody knew they were bad.

  They were always in trouble at school.

  They had even been kicked out a couple of times.

  Brother wasn’t sure why. But it must have been something pretty bad.

  Someone said that it was for fighting.

  Someone else said that it was for stealing.

  But Brother wasn’t going to get mixed up with the Too-Tall gang. He was just going to play a little basketball with them. What harm could there be in that?

  Brother knew they were a bad bunch. But he couldn’t help feeling proud.

  He wondered what it would be like to be part of the Too-Tall gang. He wondered what it would be like to have other cubs be scared of you
and step aside when you came along.

  Mostly, he wondered what it would be like to play on their court in the woods.

  He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

  3

  Brother Bear made his way past the junkyard toward the woods. The woods were just ahead. Next to the path, there was a wooden sign stuck in the ground.

  It said: KEEP OUT! THIS MEANS YOU!

  There was a skull and bones on the sign.

  But Brother had an invitation from Too-Tall himself, so it was all right. At least that’s what he kept telling himself.

  Brother took a deep breath and went into the woods.

  There was no sign of life—except for plant life, of course. And there was plenty of that. The trees were all tangled with twisty vines. It was pretty spooky.

  He looked up into the trees.

  Things were hanging from the branches. He couldn’t tell what they were.

  It looked as if the woods might go on forever. Then he came to a clearing. There was a basketball court. It had a dirt floor. There were baskets bolted to trees at each end of the court.

  There was a small building at the far end of the clearing. It was made out of pieces of junk.

  Since the junkyard was close by, that made sense.

  Smoke was coming out of the chimney. The chimney looked like a truck’s tailpipe. Now that Brother looked closely, the whole clubhouse was made from car and truck parts.

  What a great setup! A whole basketball court and a clubhouse made out of car and truck parts.

  But where was everybody?

  There was a basketball lying on the court.

  Brother picked it up. He started to dribble down the court.

  Just then, the gang poured out of the clubhouse.

  But where was Too-Tall?

  The gang didn’t look friendly. Brother had gotten them kicked off the playground. They were probably still angry about it.

  “Where’s Too-Tall?” asked Brother.

  “We ask the questions around here,” said Skuzz.

  They backed Brother up against a tree.

  “And the first question is, didn’t you see the sign that says ‘Keep out! This means you!’?”

  Brother didn’t answer.

  If Too-Tall didn’t show up soon, he was in deep trouble.

  “Maybe he can’t read,” said Skuzz.

  “Maybe he doesn’t like signs,” said Vinnie.

  “Do you want to know what we do to cubs who don’t like signs?” said Smirk.

  Brother didn’t answer.

  “If you want to know,” said Skuzz, “just look up in the trees.”

  Brother looked up.

  Now he got it.

  Those things in the trees were pants. There were all kinds—long pants, short pants, and jeans.

  “That’s right,” said Vinnie. “We ‘pants’ cubs who don’t like signs. We send them home crying—in their underwear.”

  Brother looked around for Too-Tall.

  There was still no sign of him. Brother knew he had to make his move before the gang made theirs.

  He threw the basketball at them as hard as he could. It knocked Skuzz down. He pulled Vinnie and Smirk down with him.

  Brother was off like a shot. He ran along the path as fast as he could.

  The gang was hot on his heels. He was almost out of the woods when he ran smack into Too-Tall.

  “Oof!” grunted Too-Tall. “What’s going on?”

  Brother started to say. But Too-Tall got it, all right.

  He was very mad. He grabbed Skuzz by the shirt.

  “You let Brother alone!” he yelled. “I want him on our team! And what I say goes! Got it?”

  “G-g-g-got it,” said Skuzz. Vinnie and Smirk nodded.

  “Now go get our team shirts,” said Too-Tall. “We’re playing the Westside Thugs today.”

  4

  The game between the Westside Thugs and the Junkyard Dogs was fast and hard. A big teenage ref called a lot of fouls. Even so, the game was hard.

  Too-Tall was right about Brother. He was a very good point guard. The team played well. Brother played very well. But the Junkyard Dogs still lost.

  Skuzz, Vinnie, and Smirk were out of breath. They lay down on the grass.

  Too-Tall had gotten into a fight with the captain of the Westside Thugs, who was even taller than Too-Tall.

  But now that the game was over, they were talking about playing each other again.

  Too-Tall was out of breath too. He sat down on the grass. Too-Tall was not a good loser. But Brother had something to tell him.

  “Too-Tall?” said Brother.

  “Yeah,” grunted Too-Tall.

  “I have something to tell you,” he said. “If you play the Westside Thugs again, you’re just going to lose again.”

  “Who says so?” snarled Too-Tall.

  “It’s just good sense,” said Brother. “You’ve got no bench. You can’t play big-time basketball with just five players. The Thugs are a good team. And they’ve got a bench. They can send in players with fresh legs. You need at least a sixth player to come off the bench.”

  “So what do we do?” sneered Too-Tall.

  “I could talk to my cousin,” said Brother.

  “You don’t mean that little twerp from the playground?” said Too-Tall.

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” added Skuzz.

  “Fred may be small,” said Brother, “but he’s no twerp. He’s a good player. He’s fast and he can run all day. He’s a good bench player.”

  “Do you think he’ll be interested?” asked Too-Tall.

  “I can ask him,” said Brother.

  “Now, just a darn minute!” said Skuzz. He got up off the ground. Vinnie and Smirk got up too.

  “You got a problem with that?” asked Too-Tall.

  “Yeah!” said Skuzz. “Why does he have a say in what we do? This is gang biz! And he’s not even in the gang!”

  “He has a say because I say he has a say!” roared Too-Tall. “Unless you’re looking for a knuckle sandwich, back off!”

  Skuzz backed off. He backed off so fast he knocked Vinnie and Smirk down.

  “Okay, Brother,” said Too-Tall. “Ask your cousin. I’ll let you know when the next game is.”

  Then Too-Tall and the gang got up. They went back into their clubhouse. They left Brother outside. He shrugged and got up to go home.

  Brother came out of the woods into the bright sunlight. His feet hardly seemed to touch the ground. What a feeling! What a kick! He had played well in a big-time basketball game. Plus, big, bad Too-Tall was taking his advice.

  He walked past the junkyard.

  He thought about the gang’s great clubhouse. It didn’t take much to figure out where the gang got the car parts. They stole them from the junkyard. But was that really stealing? It was just junk. And it was such a cool clubhouse.

  As Brother walked along, he leaned forward and bent his knees.

  If he was going to hang out with tough guys, he figured he might as well have a tough walk too.

  5

  That night, Sister lay in bed.

  She was wondering what was up with Brother. It wasn’t that Brother was being mean. It was just that lately he seemed far away—even when she was standing next to him. When she asked him something, all she got was “Huh?”

  Not that they always agreed. After all, Brother was older than she was. Not only that, Brother was a boy and she was a girl. But that was nothing new. What was new was that Brother didn’t seem the same.

  Sister liked having her own room. She liked it a lot. She liked not tripping over Brother’s toys. She liked not having Brother’s sports things all over the place. She liked not having to smell his awful model airplane glue.

  Sister guessed that Brother liked having his own room too—a room free of dolls, stuffed toys, and all her girl things.

  But she lay looking up into the shadows.

  She listened to the tick-tock of the pussycat clock on the
wall. It was the kind with eyes and a tail that go from side-to-side with each tick-tock.

  Why was it that things seemed a little spooky before you fell asleep?

  Things looked different when Sister woke up the next morning.

  Things usually look different in the morning.

  It was the same room, but it was bright with rays of the rising sun. It was the same pussycat clock on the wall. But by the light of day, it seemed cheerful.

  Sister washed and dressed for breakfast. She tried to shrug off her worries about Brother.

  Yes, said Sister to herself, things surely do look different in the morning. She bounced down the tree house stairs and into the kitchen.

  Breakfast was a cheerful time in the tree house. In summer, there wasn’t the rush-rush of catching the school bus. She and Lizzy Bruin had the whole day ahead of them at the playground.

  Thinking of the playground reminded Sister of how Brother had stood up to Too-Tall for her. She felt a wave of warm feelings about him. She forgot all about how he had changed.

  “Brother,” she said. “I don’t know if you have any plans for today. But how about the two of us doing something together?”

  Brother didn’t answer. He just stared straight ahead.

  “I said,” said Sister, much louder, “do you have any plans for today? Maybe we could do something together.”

  Still no answer from Brother.

  “Brother,” said Mama, “your sister just asked you something.”

  Brother turned and looked at Sister. It was as if he had never seen her before.

  “Huh?” he said.

  “I said . . . oh, never mind,” said Sister. She poured herself some cereal and milk.

  If it was a bad mood, thought Sister, it sure was a long one. Okay, if he’s such a big shot he can’t talk to his own sister, who needs him?

  She dug into her cereal. She crunched down hard.

  “What are your plans for today?” Mama asked Brother.

  “Oh, er, I’m going to shoot some hoops with Cousin Fred,” said Brother.

  “Shoot some hoops?” said Mama.