![brother bear and sister bear too many sweets berenstein bears brother bear and sister bear too many sweets berenstein bears](https://briteandbubbly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-24-at-12.05.33-PM.png)
We knew we’d have three characters: a bluff, overenthusiastic Papa Bear who wore bib overalls and a plaid shirt and was a little like Stan, a wise Mama Bear who wore a blue dress with white polka dots and a similar polka-dotted dust-cap who was very like Jan, and a bright, lively little cub who was a lot like Leo. “We knew from our first noodlings that our book would be about bears – a family of bears. (all additional quotes are also pulled from this text) The idea evolved gradually, but their first thoughts are explained by Stan & Jan in their autobiography Down a Sunny Dirt Road published in 2002. Stan & Jan Berenstain were published comics well before they entertained the concept of creating children’s books. The Bear family has gone through lots of changes since 1962, but the Berenstain Bears have remained a well-known and treasured staple of children’s literature for over half a century! Below is one of the first sketches of the Bears, found in the archives 5 years ago while getting ready for our 50th Anniversary. September 28 Marks the 55th anniversary of the first Berenstain Bears book, The Big Honey Hunt published in 1962. Check out some parallels we have drawn below, and if you are interested in Stan & Jan’s early cartoon work it can be seen in Child’s Play: The Cartoon Art of Stan & Jan Berenstain. A good idea is worth revisiting, and two of our upcoming books – The Berenstain Bears Patience Please! and The Berenstain Bears and the Big Family Album are directly inspired a Stan & Jan early cartoon. Sometimes the references are purely visual gags, other times a theme from a single panel cartoon is elaborated into an entire book. Stan, Jan, and even Mike have consciously (and sometimes subconsciously) referenced these cartoons in subsequent Bear books.
![brother bear and sister bear too many sweets berenstein bears brother bear and sister bear too many sweets berenstein bears](https://g.christianbook.com/g/slideshow/7/712534/main/712534_1_ftc_dp.jpg)
There have been over 350 Berenstain bear books published, and at Berenstain studios we often get the question “How do you keep coming up with book ideas?” Sometimes the answer is re-cycling! Before Stan & Jan created the Bear books, they worked for years creating “Sister” and “All in the Family” cartoons for Colliers, Good Housekeeping, and McCall’s magazines.