Created in 1981 9.0 by the U.S. greeting card company
American Greetings, the
Care Bears are a group of characters that have appeared in various media. Since early 1983, various companies in the Americas, Europe and Israel have published books based on the franchise. In the United States, the Care Bears' books have been available through
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
,
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
and
Scholastic Books
Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...
.
English-language books
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
, a board game company then owned by
General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
, launched its book publishing division in February 1983;
its first series consisted of six books featuring the Care Bears.
[ On October 30, 1987, Great Britain's Octopus Books released a book under this title (), containing Amelia Hubert's ''Sweet Dreams for Sally'' and Evelyn Mason's ''A Sister for Sam''.
Parker Brothers spent US$1 million in advertising on the original six-book series, which was made to promote the Care Bears characters. According to a company spokesperson, the stories would demonstrate "love, caring, dreams, happiness, friendship, wishes, and feelings". The series made its debut at the 1983 ]American International Toy Fair
The North American International Toy Fair (formerly the American International Toy Fair and also known as Toy Fair New York) is an annual toy industry trade show held in mid-February in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and at t ...
, along with other Care Bears products.[ John Keller, editorial director for the books, commented on their creation:
]
Tales from the Care Bears
Other books
Random House
In 1983, the U.S. publishing company Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
was granted paperback rights to books in the Care Bears franchise through American Greetings and General Mills, as Parker Brothers was unable to secure the exclusive publishing rights at the time. Bruce Jones, a Parker Brothers staffer, could not secure the exclusive publishing rights, and had to settle for a split license with Random House.[ During the mid-1980s, Dorsey Laboratories promoted its Triaminic cough medicine through a Random House publication, ''The Care Bears Help Chase Colds''; this promotion helped sell over 2 million units of the product, along with a free copy of said book.
]
Scholastic Books
A few months after the 2002 relaunch of the Care Bears franchise, Scholastic Books
Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...
published its first titles featuring the characters.
Spanish-language books
In 1984, Parker Brothers' ''Tales from the Care Bears'' made their appearance in Spain as the ''Un Cuento de Los Osos Amorosos'' series. The titles in this version were published by that country's division of General Mills, and translated from the original English by Leopoldo Rodríguez Regueira.
French-language books
Tales from the Care Bears
France's division of General Mills published Danièle Laufer's translations of the ''Tales'' in 1984.
Other books
German-language books
The ''Tales from the Care Bears'' were also published in German in 1984.
Dutch-language books
Portuguese-language books
These titles were published by Brazil's Fundamento, under the local franchise name ''Ursinhos Carinhosos''.
Danish-language books
These were published in 2004 by Denmark's K.E. Media, and translated by Søren Lampe.
Hebrew-language books
Around 1987, Israel's Modan published Hebrew versions of selected ''Tales from the Care Bears'', marketed for this country as ''Sipur mi-sipure Dube'khpat li''. ʻIvri Shafrirah Zakai and Tom Ḳuḳ served as the translators.
Shafrirah Zakai wrote another four books featuring the characters, also from Modan: ''Dube'khpat li ṿe-taḥarut ha-kishronot'', ''Dubeʼkhpat li ṿeha-beʻayah ha-ḳeṭanah'', ''Dubeʼkhpat li ṿe-tahalukhat ha-ḳarnaval'' and ''Dubeʼkhpat li ṿeha-mirdaf aḥare ha-otsar''.
Polish-language books
''Urodziny urwisa'', an Ewa Ziółkowska translation of an earlier French work by Imelda Heuschen, was published in 1994 by Warsaw's RTV ().
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Care Bears books
Lists of books
Series of children's books
Books
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ar ...
Books about bears