For 30 years, Jan and Stan Berenstain have invited readers to visit Bear Country and wander down a dirt road to a tree house and into the lives of Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister Bear.

In a recent telephone interview, Stan Berenstain's deep, calming voice turned ordinary responses into bedtime stories. He reminded us of our grandfathers, and we could almost see his streaked gray hair and a pair of glasses at the tip of his nose.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones who relate to Berenstain. Stan and his wife and writing partner, Jan, receive more than 20,000 fan letters annually from children, parents and educators.

Stan says even though the Berenstain Bears live in a tree house and never grow older, his readers relate to the bears as people:

The Berenstain Bears may live in a tree,

But they're quite a lot like you and me.

Their noses are pretty much longer than ours,

Their hugs are pretty much stronger than ours.

They're quite a bit furrier about the torso,

But they're just like people, only more so.

The Berenstains modeled Mama and Papa Bear after themselves.

"Nobody could be really as dumb and as foolhardy as Papa Bear - you know, he's like me, only more so," Stan explained.

"And nobody could be as absolutely wise and perfect as Mama Bear. So Mama Bear is just like Jan, who is pretty good, only more so."

Beginning of a partnership

Stan and Jan met in art school and were required to take a course at the Philadelphia Zoo. They chose to draw bears because no other artists had interest in them, and it gave them some time to be alone.

After their marriage in 1946, Jan and Stan wrote and drew cartoons for such magazines as Good Housekeeping and McCall's. The also wrote magazine features and humorous books for adults.

As their sons became interested in reading, they thought it would be fun to break away from the magazine work they were doing and work in a large size in color.

They decided to focus on bears for a couple of reasons, Stan said. "Bears are the principal characters in the single most popular children's story, and that is Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

"So bears have a way. They are good performers. They stand up in circuses and they ride bicycles, so the idea of their being upright made sense."

Jan and Stan draw from their own experiences and environment to write their books. They also get ideas from the children around them.

"Going on a picnic is a fairly typical thing, and in (The Berenstain Bears Go on a Picnic) they go all over the place looking for a great spot," Stan said. "And it starts to rain, and they find a great spot, which is their own house. Well, that actually happened to us years ago.

"One of the books we have that is quite popular is called The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies. Well, I was doing some supermarket shopping on a Sunday. You know how there is candy at the checkout, to get the kids' interest? Well, one little kid wanted candy and the mother didn't want him to have candy, and the child was throwing a terrible tantrum. Well, that is exactly what The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies is about."

Working together

Stan and Jan have been married for 48 years and collaborate equally on their books. Stan says when the books come out, they can't tell who did what part of the coloring because they have developed the same style.

"In The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room, which is one of our best-selling books, we first got the idea, and then we worked together on writing the story," Stan said. "We handed it back and forth. The problem usually is the (stories) are too long, and they won't fit in the book. So, one person writes it long and the other person tries to shorten it until it gets down to about 1,100 words.

"And then I begin the art by laying out the book ... And after I get this roughly drawn ... then Janet takes my rough drawing, and she does a very fine, perfect drawing of it in pencil ... and improves it to the point where it is beautiful. And then I usually ink it. And when that's done, we both share the job of coloring it."

In June 1993, Random House launched a new Berenstain Bears series for children 7 to 10 years old called Big Chapter Books. The 112-page, black-and-white stories explore real-life experiences and problems including dating, drugs and prejudice. Stan feels the books will help to strengthen the literacy level of young readers at a stage where it seems to slacken off.

"The United States Department of Education did a survey about a few months ago that said kids will learn to read, but when they get to be 8, 9, 10 - especially boys - because of the television, because of MTV, because of the videos, they fall away from reading, which is extremely destructive to their futures because reading is a huge key to success in life," Stan said.

"We don't expect to solve that problem. But that is what we have in mind. We think that if we make the books compelling enough and funny enough, then we will keep some of those people (from watching television).

"Television is so easy. You sit and look and don't have to do any work. There have been many statistical studies that show that since television has come in, the reading scores have slacked off. That's not a matter of opinion. That's a matter of fact.

"I think we learn much, much better from reading. I think we retain more. We can stop and think about it, we can go back to it. It's not as much fun maybe, at first. But it's a more gratifying kind of fun for me. I would much rather read a book than watch television."

Stan feels that children must develop a love for reading at an early age and need to be encouraged by their parents.

"One of the things that puzzles me (is that) parents say, `I just can't get my boy to read,"' Stan said. "And I say, `Well, does he read the baseball scores in the newspaper?' `Of course he does.' `Does he read comic books?' `Of course he does, but I want him to read literature.' And I say politely, `Well, I think you're making a big mistake. You can't make a kid read something that he or she doesn't want to read. You have to hit the ball where it is pitched.'

"Some parents want to inculcate in their children a taste for the kind of books that they like, and I don't think that you can ... fight that battle. It's acquiring knowledge and experience and learning through reading that is important and fun. I think if reading isn't fun, you are not gonna do it."

Stan feels they have drawn the line between preaching and teaching when trying to teach children simple lessons like cleaning their rooms or not crying if they don't get what they want.

"Kids get enough preaching without our helping," he said. "We are interested in giving them our ideas about what may work for people.

"A lot of literature far beyond us is teaching. All of the great literature has that aspect - Homer, Virgil, the Bible - that's what it is all about. Now, we're not putting ourselves in that league, but the principles are the same."

Dealing with prejudice

Is there any topic too risque for a Berenstain Bears book?

"We've always wanted to deal with the problem of bigotry and prejudice, but we could never figure out quite how to make it work in a way that would be a book for children that wouldn't be preachy, but it would get the idea across," Stan said.

"People say, `Why don't you have a polar bear move into the neighborhood?' And I'd say, `Well, that's too obvious. The whole black-and-white thing.' And I think it's so flat-footed.

"And then just about six months ago, Jan said, `I know what - we could use panda bears because they are cute, they're black-and- white together. Kids are familiar with them and fond of them.' So that's one of the books that we're working on right now."

There is one topic that Stan and Jan can't quite figure out how to tackle.

"There is one subject that people ask us to do, and it is difficult for us to do," Stan said. "And that is the subject of divorce. A lot of people get divorced and a lot of kids have that experience. But we haven't figured out a way to get Mama and Papa divorced, and (still have the series continue)."

Did you know ...?

Berenstain Bears books are among the most circulated of all children's books in libraries.

More than 165 million copies of more than 100 Berenstain Bears titles have been sold in the United States alone.

If all the Berenstain Bears books ever sold were placed next to each other, they would stretch for 20,833 miles - almost the distance around the Earth.

Berenstain Bears books have been translated into more than 14 languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian and Arabic.

Source: Random House