Down A Sunny Dirt Road: An Autobiography

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Once upon a time, in Mrs. Sweeney’s first year drawing class at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art, a “lantern-jawed exotic” named Stan admired the drawing of a brown-haired, blue-eyed girl named Janice . . . and it was kismet! It also heralded the birth of one of the great collaborations in all of children’s literature: Stan and Jan Berenstain, creators of the Berenstain Bears.This enormously readable account tells of the early years before they met, their courtship (briefly interrupted by World War II), married life, and their first fateful meeting with Theodor Seuss Geisel–the editor-in-chief and president of Beginner Books. It was this fateful meeting that led to the publication of The Big Honey Hunt–the book that launched their careers as children’s book artists and introduced to the world what would quickly become America’s first family of bears: the Berenstain Bears.

Hardcover: 208 pages

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 24, 2002)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0375814035

ISBN-13: 978-0375814037

Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.8 x 10.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #819,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #104 in Books > Teens > Social Issues > Family #104 in Books > Teens > Biographies > Literary #128 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Music & Photography > Art > Cartooning

Age Range: 12 and up

Grade Level: 7 and up

Down a Sunny Dirt Road would be a highly enjoyable addition to any book collection. It is the story of Stan and Jan Berenstain covering their childhood up to today. The book is broken up into chapters of about five pages each. The text is large and easy to read. Throughout the book, the chapter is broken up between Stan and Jan. Each of them tells their own point of view about events that only they were a part of as well as events they both experienced together. The book is lovingly put together and packed with pictures of Stan and Jan as well as illustrations that each of them made to illustrate the events that they are talking about in the chapter. The autobiography is all encompassing and contains many great extras like a list of all of the books that the couple has written or illustrated, a chronology of events, and all of the awards that they have won. The book is the tale of a great love story between two star-crossed lovers that luckily for us, ended up together. The couple lived the true rags to riches story and this idea runs throughout the book because it has influenced choices they have made. It is great to hear about their start in the cartoon industry as well as their creation of the lovable bears we have come to know as Mama, Papa, Sister, Brother, and now Honey. It was also very interesting to learn about how they based the bears on. One of the most enjoyable chapters of the book focuses on their meetings with beloved children�s author Dr. Seuss. The advice that Dr. Seuss gave them about their books was fun to read and the knowledge that he tried to make the bears like the books he wrote, but the Berenstain�s were reluctant to do so. The book also highlights the fact that Stan and Jan are real artists, not only cartoonists.

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