In 1952, Stanley and Janice Berenstain published Tax-wise: A Pictorial Romp through the Tax Form. Little did they know that their gift for caricature and storytelling would develop into a beloved franchise of anthropomorphic bears. Stan died in 2005, but Jan and son Mike Berenstain carry the ursine torch into the 21st century. And just in time for the season of fright and identity, The Berenstain Bears Go on a Ghost Walk is available in interactive apps for iOS and Android platforms.
The Berenstains got their first break from Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, who in 1957 was editor for a Random House series of children’s books. Geisel encouraged Stan and Jan to find another power animal as he thought the bear market was overcrowded. Luckily for generations of children, they stuck to their furry guns.The Bears have come a long way since 1962, when Stanley and Janice Berenstain published Big Honey Hunt. The characters have transformed in much the way the Simpsons have changed over the duration of their hundred-year television reign. The lovable bear family have now entered the digital world, but despite the electronic format, the artwork retains visible cross hatching and other lines that endearingly remind you of the craft that goes into the drawings.
The Berenstain Bears Go on a Ghost Walk finds papa bear hard at work — and at play — preparing the kids for a school ghost walk, starting with pumpkin harvest time. But idyllic scenes of pumpkin farms are too sedate for papa, especially at this most frightening time of the year. After carving out pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns, papa demonstrates his signature Falstaffian over-enthusiasm, taking a garbage-can full of pumpkin innards to fashion a meaty costume for himself. Alas, the children are too frightened by the vision of the pumpkin monster and run to mama.
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