Michael Berenstain Papers

Michael Berenstain was born on December 21, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Stan(ley) and Jan(ice) Berenstain, creators of the Berenstain Bears book series. Inspired by his parents' work, he attended the Philadelphia College of Art from 1969-1973, and then Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1973-1974. His career in the children's book world began with a position in the children's book department of a publishing company, and he began writing and illustrating in 1975 with a series of historical books published by McKay. By the 1980s Berenstain began to emphasize fantasy and the supernatural in his work, creating a group of mythical characters called "dwarks."

With the growing popularity of the Berenstain Bears books, along with their television series, Berenstain began helping his parents with the series in the mid 1980s. Working alongside his parents in their studio eventually became his career, and was even more essential after the death of his father in 2005. Since then, he has continued to work with his mother, and has even developed a new faith-based children's series with her called the Living Lights series.

Sources:

Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series, ed. James G. Lesniak (Detroit: Gale Research, 1992), 36:33-4

Something about the Author, ed. Anne Commire (Detroit: Gale Research, 1986), 45: 44