Berenstain Bears

File:BerenstainBearsLogo.png

Promotional artwork for The Berenstain Bears, featuring Mama, Papa, Brother, Honey, and Sister.

The Berenstain Bears is a children's literature franchise created by Stan and Jan Berenstain, which is continued by their son Mike Berenstain who assumed partial authorship in 2002 and had full authorship in 2012 following his mother's death. The series follows the adventure of five anthropomorphic grizzly bears who learn morals or safety lessons in each story.

The Berenstain Bears series came into being when the very first book, The Big Honey Hunt, was released in 1962 and had since went on to become one of the bestselling children's literature series of all-time, with over 200 million copies sold and translated into 23 languages. In addition to books, the franchise also has a share of other products ranging from plush dolls, video games and several animated specials, as well as two television shows based on the books.

Since its release, the Berenstain Bears series has received widespread acclaim from audiences and has won numerous awards. However, the series also received criticism for its formulaic storytelling and perceived saccharine tone.

Characters and Themes

Main article: List of Berenstain Bears Characters

Throughout its history, the Berenstain Bears books all follow a basic formula, as stated by the Berenstains: "Papa sets out to instruct Small Bear in some aspect of the art of living and ends up badly the worse for wear, with Small Bear expressing his appreciation for the fine lesson Papa has taught him."

The Bear family originally consisted of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Brother Bear, who was known as 'Small Bear at the time. Mama gave birth to her first daughter, Sister Bear, in the 1974 book The Berenstain Bears' New Baby. Sister became the Bear family's only daughter until 26 years later, Mama would become pregnant in the book The Birds, the Bees, and the Berenstain Bears. In the book The Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five, which was also published in 2000, Mama give birth to Honey Bear, the second daughter of the Bear family.

A majority of the issues that the Berenstain Bears face are similar to what children go through such as bullying, visiting the doctor, getting into fights with loved ones, obesity, and throwing tantrums. The Berenstains used their family experiences as inspiration for the books, with Stan credited for their continued relevance: "Kids still tell fibs and they mess up their rooms and they still throw tantrums in the supermarket ... Nobody gets shot. No violence. There are problems, but they're the kind of typical family problems everyone goes through."

The characters Mama and Papa Bear, who were criticized for their characterization, were heavily inspired by Stan and Jan Berenstain themselves.

Media

Books

Main article: List of Berenstain Bears Books

The Berenstain Bears series has a total of over 300 books that were published by various companies since their debut in 1962.

Television

The series also had five animated specials that have aired on television in 1979 until 1983, through the course of five films.

• The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree (December 3, 1979) (Also known as The Berenstain Bears' Christmas)
• The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw (November 20, 1980) (Also known as The Berenstain Bears' Thanksgiving)
• The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Egg (April 14, 1981) (Also known as The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise)
• The Berenstain Bears' Valentine Special (February 13, 1982) (Also known as The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine A.K.A The Berenstain Bears and Cupid's Surprise)
• The Berenstain Bears' Littlest Leaguer (May 6, 1983) (Also known as The Berenstain Bears Play Ball)

1985 TV series

The Berenstain Bears series had their first Australian-American animated TV program air on CBS on September 14, 1985 and going all the way until March 7, 1987. The show consisted of episodes that were adaptations of a book, such as The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room, though a new original story would take up the second half of the episode, some of which were later written into books based on the episode in question.

The new stories featured two villains named Raffish Ralph, a con aritst who frequently comes up with schemes that try to dupe the residents of Bear Country into giving him money, and Weasel McGreed, who tries to take over Bear Country and is shown to have anger issues. Both Raffish Ralph and Weasel McGreed later found their way into the books.

Too-Tall Grizzly is another antagonist by extension. Like in the books, he is depicted as a bully.

2002 TV series

The Berenstain Bears series received another animated series that aired on Treehouse TV on September 9, 2002, and later on PBS Kids on January 6, 2003. In addition to serving as a remake of the 1985 animated series, the 2002 series features episodes that are based on the books while also featuring original storylines, some of which were later adapted into books.

On PBS, The Berenstain Bears aired along with Seven Little Monsters, but the two shows were later separated. The series continued to air on PBS Kids Sprout (later renamed to simply Sprout) until its rebranding to Universal Kids on September 9, 2017, just after Sprout's rights to air the series had expired. Unlike Treehouse TV, PBS aired the episodes of The Berenstain Bears out of order.

Video games

Main article: List of Berenstain Bears software and video games

In addition to books and other forms of merchandise, the Berenstain Bears series also had its share of video games and computer software, some of them being educational, some of them being part of Broderbund's Living Books series, and some being part of a few video game genres.

Museum exhibits

The Strong National Museum of Play, located in Rochester, New York, features an exhibit based on the Berenstain Bears series titled "The Berenstain Bears: Down a Sunny Dirt Road". The exhibit contains lunch at the Bear Family restaurant. There is also an area based on Farmer Ben's farm where there are learning activities for children. Lastly, there is Brother and Sister Bear's Club Houses where children can make friends, which is based on the book The Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed.

From October 26, 2002 to January 12, 2003, the Michener Art Museum had an exhibition called "The Berenstain Bears Celebrate: The Art of Stan and Jan Berenstain", in which visitors got access to the Berenstains' archived work.

Stage show

At the Manhattan Movie and Arts Center in June 2011, the musical The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical made its debut. It was originally slated to run from June to September 4, 2011, but was later extended through October and moved to the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre for an open-ended run. The musical was created by Matt Murphy, a Berenstain Bears fan known for his work on his two other musicals Memphis and Altar Boyz.

The Berenstain Bears musical received generally positive reviews.

Feature film

In 2009, American independent studio Walden Media and 21 Laps director Shawn Levy announced a film adaptation of the Berenstain Bears. It was origially envisined as a comedy film with both live-action and animated elements, and an original storyline that drew details from several Berenstain Bears books.

No word about the feature film was said until January 2012, where it was reported that the project was in the script phase. However, the company's option had since expired.

Social issues

The Berenstains were approached by former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everet Koop to write an anti-smoking book for children. Despite declining, the idea did inspire the Berenstains to write the 1988 book The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare, which dealt with peer pressure. The Berenstains wouldn't visit the idea of anti-smoking until 1997 when they published the book The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Sinister Smoke Ring. Lawton Chiles, Florida's then-state governor, purchased 600,000 copies of the book to give to children as part of his anti-smoking campaign.

In 2007, the Berenstain Bears became the "spokesbears" for Prevent Child Abuse America, to which Jim Hmurovich, the president and CEO said; "This is a great example of a socially conscious and child-focused business taking a stand on an issue that has great consequences for all of us. This helps us begin having a more honest conversation about how each of us has a role to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation's children."

In 2008, Mike Berenstain wrote some Berenstain Bears books of a religious nature. Examples of this include The Berenstain Bears: God Loves You, and The Berenstain Bears Say Their Prayers. These religious books are part of a series called Living Lights and are published by Zondervan and HarperCollins.

In 2012, HarperCollns faced controversy regarding Chick-fil-A's plan to distribute titles in the Berenstain Bears series as part of their kids' meal promotion following the Chick-fil-A founder's statements about same-sex marriage, with gay rights activisits urging the publishers to pull out of the promotion. HarperCollins refused to do so, saying that it was not their "practice to cancel a contract with an author, or any other party, for exercising their first amendment rights."

Other products

There is a board game called The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree, which is based on the book of the same name. It was devloped and published by Random Happy Group in 1989.

Reception

With over 240 million copies sold in 2003, the Berenstain Bears series had 35 books in Publishers Weekly's top 250 titles of all times, and 15 books are in the top 100 children's paperbacks. The series was met with mostly positive reviews and won numerous awards for contributing to children's literature. However, it was also met with criticism for allegedly promoting outdated gender roles, simplistic and sometimes unrealistic messages, and not keeping up with the times.

Criticism

Critics of the Berenstain Bears series called it "syrupy", "unsatisfying", "infuriatingly formulaic", "hokey", "abominable", and "little more than stern lectures dressed up as children's stories".

Charles Krauthammer, a then-columnist for The Washington Post, wrote an editorial called "Drown the Berenstain Bears" that criticized the popularity of the books, writing "it is not just the smugness and complacency of the stories that is so irritating." Additionally, he criticized the characters Papa Bear as "post-feminist, the Alan Alda of grizzlies, a wimp so passive and fumbling he makes Dagwood Bumstead look like Batman", and Mama Bear as "the final flowering of the grade-school prissy, the one with perfect posture and impeccable handwriting ... and now you have to visit her every night. The reason is, of course, that kids love them. My boy, 4, cannot get enough of these bears."

When Stan Berenstain passed away from lymphoma in 2005, Paul Farhi of The Washington Post wrote an appreciation post in his memory. However, the appreciation post itself attracted criticism from Post readers, who noted the unappreciative tone. Farhi, who had criticized the Berenstain Bears series as misguided self-help, stated:

"The larger questions about the popularity of the Berenstain Bears are more troubling: Is this what we really want from children's books in the first place, a world filled with scares and neuroses and problems to be toughed out and solved? And if it is, aren't the Berenstain Bears simply teaching to the test, providing a lesson to be spit back, rather than one lived and understood and embraced? Where is the warmth, the spirit of discovery and imagination in Bear Country? Stan Berenstain taught a million lessons to children, but subtlety and plain old joy weren't among them."

Readers of The Washington Post sent letters to Farhi that decried his harshness, to which they also defended the books' "warmth" and overall popularity amongst young children.

Following Jan Berenstain's death from a stroke in 2012, Hanna Rosin of Slate wrote; "As any right-thinking mother will agree, good riddance. Among my set of mothers the series is known mostly as the one that makes us dread the bedtime routine the most."

Rosin's message drew criticism from Slate readers, to which she subsequently apologized, admitting she "was not really thinking of [Berenstain] as a person with actual feelings and a family, just an abstraction who happened to write these books".