Down a Sunny Dirt Road: An Autobiography
You'd think that Jan and Stan Berenstain's true calling was the whole  bear thing (Bears in the  Night,The Big Honey  Hunt, etc.). But after spending even a couple minutes reading their  absorbing and often hilarious autobiography, you'll wonder why they don't do  more memoirs.Taking turns with chapters like "Stan Meets Jan" and "Jan Meets Stan," the  Berenstains share some of the most minute and telling details that contributed  to their uniquely successful career and marriage (which long ago passed the  50-year mark). We hear about 5-year-old Stan's "cat period" (quickly eclipsed by  his "zeppelin period," after spotting theGraf Zeppelinsailing over  Philadelphia's "el"); a third-grade dance performance by shy "Janeece" as  the Red-Breasted Robin (Jan's teacher never pronounced her name correctly); the  couple's budding romance at art school and its interruption by the draft  (followed by some funny WWII recollections from Stan); their struggling early  success at theSaturday Evening PostandCollier's(where they  became famous for their "moppet mob scenes"); and their momentous first meeting  with Theodor ("Dr.") Seuss Geisel, which led to some surprising  consternation--"Our modest dream of a doing a funny book about a family of bears  who lived in a tree was turning into a waking nightmare."Even though the Berenstains have kindly written to a preteen level, teens and  grownups should still findDown a Sunny Dirt Roadhighly readable. And  die-hard fans of the Bear family will especially enjoy the comprehensive  bibliography--who ever knew aboutThe Berenstain Bears and the Drug-Free  Zone? (Ages 10 and older)--Paul Hughes