Stan and Jan Berenstain

Stanley Melvin Berenstain and Janice Marian (Jan) Berenstain were an American husband-and-wife team of authors and illustrators best known for creating the Berenstain Bears series, a long-running and influential picture-book franchise beginning with The Big Honey Hunt (1962). They began as magazine cartoonists before publishing children’s picture books that addressed everyday childhood themes (sharing, fear, manners, sibling rivalry, etc.). Their work grew into a franchise including hundreds of titles, adaptations, and licensed products; after Stan’s death in 2005 Jan collaborated with their son Mike on later books until her death in 2012. The Berenstains trained at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (now University of the Arts) in Philadelphia and lived and worked primarily in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.