28th February Jan Berenstain

I'm not sure if this is an example of serendipity, but it is certainly a bit unnerving. In my library, series of picture books are kept in blue boxes on the bottom shelves. We do this because these are the most popular books in the library, there is a lot of them and if they are interfiled on the shelves, the shelves are always a mess. Today one of the kindergarten children had the box of Berenstain Bear books off the shelf so that she could browse through it to find the book she wanted. Later in the lesson I asked her to put it back on the shelf and she picked it up to do so and the bottom of the box gave way and all the books dropped onto the floor. She was devastated, but we picked them up and I assured her we could fix it or make a new box. Then later when I had a few minutes between classes I checked my email, to find that I had an email from the head of prep saying that Jan Berenstain had died. Certainly not good news, but given her age (88) and her immense body of work it was one way to be reminded of her presence in our library. In fact, so often it is one of her books that a child brings to me and saying, 'I can read this by myself'. It is the first book they have read by themselves and they are so excited that they want to read it to you. I never get sick of hearing Inside Outside Upside Down or He Bear She Bear because of the joy that goes with them and the excitement that comes with the creation of a new reader.

29th September Stan Berenstain (1923 - 2005)

Stan Berenstain is half of the husband and wife team responsible for the Berenstain Bears series of books. I wrote about Jan, his wife on her birthday, 26th July, and everything I said there is applicable here. Each of their titles usually deals with an issue or concern common to children and families. Reading them may then open discussion and allow children to express their feelings about the situation.

26th July Jan Berenstain (1923 - 2012) Terry Denton (1950)

Jan Berenstain is half of the husband and wife team who invented the Berenstain Bears, a series of very popular books about a family of bears who behave like and have the same problems as any family of humans. Their first book The Big Honey Hunt was done for the Cat in the Hat books in 1962. It was so popular that they kept on coming up with new titles, and now 48 years later, Jan is still producing Berenstain Bear books with her son Mike. Her husband, Stan died in 2005.

The books are popular because they are fun and easy to read family stories, but they do tackle some serious subjects, such as sibling rivalry, teasing, friendship problems and stranger danger.

In an interview with Scholastic Jan and Stan answered questions that children often ask me, like how old are Sister and Brother?

How old are the Berenstain Bears?
Mama is 27 and Papa is 29. Sister Bear is in first grade and Brother Bear is in third. They won't ever get older!
Why won't the bears grow older?
Stan: Because the books are written for children who are about the same age as Sister and Brother Bear. And we think they'll be more interesting and more fun for our audience. We also do Berenstain Bears Chapter Books, and there are older cubs in those books.
Terry Denton is an Australian illustrator/author whose style is usually of the humorous cartoon type. He has illustrated several series of books, two that Andy Griffiths has written and his own series, one about a very wayward fish called Gasp and another about an adventurous wombat and fox. These series are very popular with the children who use the library. Look on Terry Denton's website for more details about these books.