Characters and Themes
The Berenstain Bears, who reside "in a big treehouse down a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country," consists of Papa Bear, an oafish, bumbling carpenter; wise Mama Bear, a housewife and perfectionist; and their children, Brother Bear (originally Small Bear), and later additions Sister Bear and Honey Bear. Sister Bear was introduced in the 1974 book The Berenstain Bears' New Baby in response to requests from female readers. Honey Bear's imminent arrival was announced in early 2000 in The Birds, the Bees, and the Berenstain Bears, along with a reader contest to name the new bear; her birth was featured later that year in The Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five.
Stories about the bears generally follow a basic formula, so described by the Berenstains: "Papa sets out to instruct Small Bear in some aspect of the art of living and ends up badly the worse for wear, with Small Bear expressing his appreciation for the fine lesson Papa has taught him." In the words of The Washington Post's Paul Farhi, "The action usually starts when the kids face a problem. They turn to Papa, who offers a "solution" that only makes the problem--or the kids' fears about it--even worse. Enter Mama, who eventually sets everyone straight."
The litany of issues confronted by the Berenstain Bears over their fifty years of publication include bullying, messiness, poor sportsmanship, visiting the dentist, online safety, and childhood obesity, among countless others. The Berenstains often drew inspiration from their own family experiences, which Stan credited for the series' continued relevance: "Kids still tell fibs and they mess up their rooms and they still throw tantrums in the supermarket...Nobody gets shot. No violence. There are problems, but they're the kind of typical family problems everyone goes through." The couple also claimed, in response to criticism of the characterization of Papa and Mama Bear, that those characters were heavily inspired by Stan and Jan Berenstain themselves.
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Famous quotes containing the words characters and/or themes:
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