Customer Reviews

Down a Sunny Dirt Road: An Autobiography

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Down a Sunny Dirt Road would be a highly enjoyable addition to any book collection. It is the story of Stan and Jan Berenstain covering their childhood up to today. The book is broken up into chapters of about five pages each. The text is large and easy to read. Throughout the book, the chapter is broken up between Stan and Jan. Each of them tells their own point of view about events that only they were a part of as well as events they both experienced together. The book is lovingly put together and packed with pictures of Stan and Jan as well as illustrations that each of them made to illustrate the events that they are talking about in the chapter. The autobiography is all encompassing and contains many great extras like a list of all of the books that the couple has written or illustrated, a chronology of events, and all of the awards that they have won. The book is the tale of a great love story between two star-crossed lovers that luckily for us, ended up together. The couple lived the true rags to riches story and this idea runs throughout the book because it has influenced choices they have made. It is great to hear about their start in the cartoon industry as well as their creation of the lovable bears we have come to know as Mama, Papa, Sister, Brother, and now Honey. It was also very interesting to learn about how they based the bears on. One of the most enjoyable chapters of the book focuses on their meetings with beloved childrens author Dr. Seuss. The advice that Dr. Seuss gave them about their books was fun to read and the knowledge that he tried to make the bears like the books he wrote, but the Berenstains were reluctant to do so. The book also highlights the fact that Stan and Jan are real artists, not only cartoonists. Their other artwork is breathtakingly beautiful and is contained within the chapters about attending art school. The autobiography is well done and answers all of the pertinent questions that people would want to know like the authors favorite books, where they get their ideas, and the correct pronunciation of their last name. Down a Sunny Dirt Road would most likely be more enjoyable to adults who grew up with the Berenstain bears or during the era that the Berenstains grew up. There are a lot of people, items, and events that are mentioned, especially in the early chapters, that children would not know or understand. The Berenstains do a good job of explaining these unknown terms, but there are just so many on the page that the children may not be able to comprehend the terms used. As far as autobiographies go, this is a great one. Down a Sunny Dirt Road is perfect for anyone wanting a great biography or a true fan that would like to travel down that sunny dirt road with those lovable Berenstain bears.

an extremely funny autobiography geared to pre-teens and others, about growing up in Philly during the Depression and WWII, and becoming artists, illustrators, and acclaimed authors of forty years worth of childrens books. Contains cartoon illustrations on nearly every other page. STan recounts how he was sent to a "one eyed battalion" at Fort Bragg during WWII, and eventually made it into ASTP at The University of Maine, while Jan became an aircraft riveter during the War. After VE Day, the couple married, raised a family and became illustrators. In 1962, they published their first childrens book, and the rest is history. I recommend it to any child with a flare for and interest in drawing and cartooning.

As a parent, I remember curling up with my sons and reading the adventure of the Berenstain Bears. The illustrations and the stories were always well-crafted. But how did this couple which has sold millions of children's books begin on their journey to publication? You will learn about their early life and how they met and married. I found it fascinating about how they moved from illustration work into children's books.

In a true behind-the-scenes look, you will learn about their first meeting with Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), who was the editor-in-chief of Random House's Beginner Books.

I recommend anyone interested in children's writing or children's book illustration would profit from reading this book. It is excellent.

I ranked it at four-stars for a reason: the book is a misfit in some ways. It appears like a children's book because it includes Berenstain illustrations combined with family photos and an oversized design. It doesn't easily fall into the autobiographical section of a bookstore nor does it fit into the children's book section.

Even with these cautions, I loved this book and learned a great deal from it and recommend it to others.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very easy to read, and interesting. The drawings are also wonderful. I learned a lot about Stan & Jan but also about the times in which they grew up, WWII, Dr.Seuss and much more! I highly recommend this to any Berenstain Bears lover or teacher doing author studies in his/her classroom (which is what I used it for)!

I've very much enjoyed this book, but it was on the booklist for my 4th grader's memoir project and we ended up having to choose it just based on reviews here. It is definitely not written for a child or even to be read to a child. The book moves rather quickly through their depression-era childhood, mentions atrocities to Jews before WWII and Stan's experiences as an enlisted man in the war, before moving on to their careers in publishing. The book is fascinating and well-written, but the language and events are complex, requiring several stops on every page to provide background knowledge to my 4th grader. She reads well above grade level, but she doesn't know much about 20th century history. In the end, I just previewed the book and then paraphrased the events that were important.

This autobiography of the romance between Stan and Jan Berenstain which led to not only a marriage of love but a marriage of businesses reveals how the two artists created the Berenstain Bears and other popular works for children. Packaged so as to appeal into the elementary grade levels, yet in depth enough for adult pursuit, this autobiography will reach entire families with its warm story of the creation of the Bears, with color and black and white drawings and sketches throughout.