Jan Berenstain--Working Right To The End

Jan Berenstain, co-creator of the Berenstain Bears, has died. Her son said of her, "She was working on two books and had been doing illustrations until the day before she passed away." Way to go, Jan.

When her husband, Stan, died in 2005, his NYTimes obit included criticism of the Berenstain Bears series. The Gauthier boys were very happy with those books, though. I'm not saying the books didn't reinforce sex role stereotyping, as their critics charge. But if they did, it rolled off my kids' backs.

Of course, when your dad does dishes, folds clothes, and maintains his own personal grocery list and your mom mows the lawn and goes to the dojang, a book about bears living in a treehouse isn't going to have much impact on your world view.