Amazon.com: Down a Sunny Dirt Road: Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain: Books

Amazon.com
You'd think that Jan and Stan Berenstain's true calling was the whole bear thing (Bears in the Night, The Big Honey Hunt, etc.). But after spending even a couple minutes reading their absorbing and often hilarious autobiography, you'll wonder why they don't do more memoirs.

Taking turns with chapters like "Stan Meets Jan" and "Jan Meets Stan," the Berenstains share some of the most minute and telling details that contributed to their uniquely successful career and marriage (which long ago passed the 50-year mark). We hear about 5-year-old Stan's "cat period" (quickly eclipsed by his "zeppelin period," after spotting the Graf Zeppelin sailing over Philadelphia's "el"); a third-grade dance performance by shy "Janeece" as the Red-Breasted Robin (Jan's teacher never pronounced her name correctly); the couple's budding romance at art school and its interruption by the draft (followed by some funny WWII recollections from Stan); their struggling early success at the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's (where they became famous for their "moppet mob scenes"); and their momentous first meeting with Theodor ("Dr.") Seuss Geisel, which led to some surprising consternation--"Our modest dream of a doing a funny book about a family of bears who lived in a tree was turning into a waking nightmare."

Even though the Berenstains have kindly written to a preteen level, teens and grownups should still find Down a Sunny Dirt Road highly readable. And die-hard fans of the Bear family will especially enjoy the comprehensive bibliography--who ever knew about The Berenstain Bears and the Drug-Free Zone? (Ages 10 and older) --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
The creative couple behind the bestselling Berenstain Bears opens this sprightly, joint autobiography with alternating chapters chronicling their respective childhoods in Philadelphia. Stan's and Jan's anecdotal recollections work in the kinds of details that children lap up: Stan remembers spotting his first zeppelin (a "great silver cigar"), Jan recalls tracing the White Knight onto a color plate of John Tenniel's artwork and, later, the couple use their childhood memories of the Saturday matinee as inspiration for a Collier's cover (reproduced in the book). After their creative aspirations bring them together as students at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (recorded in successive chapters as "Stan Meets Jan" and "Jan Meets Stan"), they offer perspectives on the ensuing WWII years (Stan served as a medical artist in the Army, Jan worked as an aircraft riveter), then merge their voices into one. Highlights include their auspicious meeting with the feisty, at times cantankerous Theodor Seuss Geisel, editor-in-chief of Random House's new Beginner Books, and the launch of the furry family from Bear Country. The roomy, clean design is reminiscent of Bill Peet: An Autobiography; their illustrations of themselves jitterbugging or playing field hockey (rendered in the Berenstain's familiar, contemporary style) demonstrate the impressive versatility of the couple's talents. Though sometimes long on detail, this breezy, humorous saga makes for an intriguing publishing tale and may appeal most to aspiring artists and adult fans, who will happily follow these amicable, humble authors down their indisputably sunny autobiographical road. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Down a Sunny Dirt Road (Hardcover)

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


	Inside This Book Citations: This book cites 45 books Explore: Citations \| Books on Related