Obit of the Day

Obit of the Day: The Real “Mama Bear”

The co-creator of The Berenstain Bears, Jan Berenstain, has passed away at the age of 88. (Her husband Stan died in 2005.) The Berenstains (human version) met when they were 18 attending art school together in Philadelphia.

After collaborating on comic strips and illustrations for national magazines including McCall’s, The Saturday Evening Post, and Collier’s, the couple decided to write children’s books that focused on the exploits of a family of bears: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Small Bear. (Small Bear was better known as Brother Bear when Sister Bear arrived. They were later joined by a baby sister named, “Honey.”) The concept had the full support of the Berenstain’s editor: Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Suess.

Since the series began with The Honey Hunt in 1962 an additional 300 titles have been added. You can also read about the Berenstain Bears’ adventures in 23 languages. Mike Berenstain has co-authored many of the books with his mother since the death of his father seven years ago.

Random note: For the Berenstain Bears television show on PBS, Brother Bear was voiced by Michael Cera.

(Images are all copyright of the Berenstain family and HarperCollins and courtesy:

toplessrobot.com - top left, top middle, top right

deannalynnc.wordpress.com - middle left

screenrant.con - middle center

indiebound.org - middle right

guidespot.com - bottom left

booksamillion.com - bottom center

neatsolutions.com - bottom right )