The Bear necessities

Momma is a bit sad today since she heard of the death of one of her favorite childhood authors, Jan Berenstain.

Jan and Stan Berenstain were both born in Philadelphia and met on their first day of class at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941.

Since the 1962 debut of the first Berenstain Bears book, The Big Honey Hunt, the series has grown to more than 300 titles, which have sold approximately 260 million copies in 23 languages. The books feature a family of bears who learn a moral or safety-related lesson in the course of each story.

Jan died Feb. 24 and Stan died in 2005, but their sons Leo and Mike have followed in their parents footsteps.

Hopefully they will continue to provide young readers with the Bear necessities.