The Berenstain Bears Love Their Neighbors Book

I recall reading that the Berenstain Bears'those mainstays of my childhood'had become more explicitly Christian in recent volumes (which are now published by Zondervan), but this is the first of those newer tales I've actually read. This is a surprisingly effective retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan (the epigraph on the title page comes from St Luke 10). This Berenstain-style adaptation excels because it successfully invites you to join the Bear family in looking down on their uncouth, slovenly, and very stereotypically hillbilly neighbors, and then pulls the rug out from under you when said neighbors are the only ones who stop to help the Bears when they need it. The Bear family shows genuine surprise and shame at their previous lack of charity. A good example of making an old story fresh again, restoring some of the punch to a parable that often lacks it because of its sheer familiarity. A pleasant surprise.