OBITUARY: THE BERENSTAIN BEARS WERE ...

... a reading staple around our house; in fact we still have about 50 on our bookshelves waiting for the grandkids to visit.

Children's author Stan Berenstain, who with his wife wrote more than 200 books about a family of bears, has died at age 82.

The Berenstain Bears books, written by Stan and his wife Jan Berenstain, helped children cope with trips to the dentist, eating junk food and cleaning their messy rooms. The first of their bear books, The Great Honey Hunt, was published in 1962.

RIP Mr. Berenstain, my kids loved you and your bear books. I loved the pictures.

The pair began drawing together when they "met in Miss Sweeny's drawing class on the first day of art school at Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941," according to their Web site. The couple developed the series with Theodor Geisel – better known as Dr. Seuss – who then headed children's publishing at Random House.

The world will go on without you but it will never be the same because of you!

Berenstain Bears; Children; Childrens Books; Childrens Literature; Stan Berenstain;