Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Flags at half mast in Bear Country today


Stan Berenstain has died at 82. I had the Berenstain Bears books as a kid, my kids had them on video, and they have one of the most kid-friendly websites I've ever seen. I don't know any parent (or former child, for that matter) who hasn't gained something fromm them.

One of the things I really liked about the Bears is that they never were trendy or preachy.
"Kids still tell fibs and they mess up their rooms and they still throw tantrums in the supermarket," Stan Berenstain told The Associated Press in 2002. "Nobody gets shot. No violence. There are problems, but they're the kind of typical family problems everyone goes through."

More to the point, there was none of the agenda that Sesame Street or Barney presented; the issues are simple ones unaffected by the conventions of the time. Sister Bear didn't have an abortion, Brother Bear never came out of any closet, and I don't recall any of them hugging the trees they lived in.

Good-bye, Stan. I hope your eternal Bear Country is as happy as the one you made.

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