''The Big Honey Hunt'' is a children's book by

Stan and Jan Berenstain Stanley Melvin Berenstain (September 29, 1923 – November 26, 2005) and Janice Marian Berenstain (née Grant; July 26, 1923 – February 24, 2012) were American writers and illustrators best known for creating the children's book seri ...

, the first in the long-running ''

Berenstain Bears The ''Berenstain Bears'' is a children's literature franchise created by the late Stan and Jan Berenstain and continued by their son, Mike Berenstain, who assumed partial authorship in 2002, and full authorship in 2012 following Jan's death. T ...

'' series. It was first published in 1962, by

Beginner Books Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children ages 3–9, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Their first book was Dr. Seuss's ''The Cat in the Hat'' (19 ...

, an imprint of

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 ...

co-founded and managed by

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

bears: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Small Bear (later known in the series as Brother Bear).

Plot

At the beginning of the book, around the Berenstain Bears' table, Mama discovers that they are out of honey and tells Papa to go get some more. He agrees and takes Small Bear along with him. However, he ignores Mama's advice to go to the store to buy the honey and tries to collect wild honey instead. To that end, Papa and Small Bear follow around a bee as it flies from tree to tree. At each tree, Papa declares that he is sure there is honey inside of it, but instead variously encounters an owl, a porcupine, and a family of skunks. When they do finally find a tree full of honey, it is protected by a swarm of bees. The bees chase them down to the river, where they jump in to avoid them. After the bees leave and the bears exit the water, Papa gives up and readily buys the honey from the store, as Mama suggested before.

Background

, a husband and wife team from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, were already successful illustrators and cartoonists by the time ''The Big Honey Hunt'' was published, with their work appearing in magazines like ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' and ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'' throughout the 1940s and 1950s. By the early 1960s, partly influenced by their son Leo's love for

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' "The Bear Facts"
''Los Angeles Times'', 2 February 1995.Martin, Douglas

''The New York Times'', 30 November 2005. According to their other son Mike Berenstain, Stan and Jan based their family of bear characters partly on themselves and their two sons. For the relationship between the father and son, in particular, they used the 1931 film '' The Champ'' as a reference. They decided to publish their first book with

, under the banner of Dr. Seuss'

label. They took their first effort, ''Freddy Bear's Spanking'', about a small bear who tries to avoid a spanking from his parents by suggesting a list of other punishments, to their first meeting with Seuss. Seuss praised the basic premise of the book but criticized many aspects of its execution. He became their first editor, and they spent the next two years revising their book to suit Seuss' rigorous standards. ''Freddy Bear's Spanking'' slowly became ''The Big Honey Hunt'', and in the process, the Berenstains began to develop a formula for writing and illustrating children's books. According to their 2002 memoir, ''Down a Sunny Dirt Road'', this included "easy words, short sentences, word/picture clues, rollicking rhythm, resolute rhyme... shameless slapstick and outrageous jokes".

Style and themes

Like later books in the series, ''The Big Honey Hunt'' focuses on a family of

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

bears: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Small Bear, who was later renamed Brother Bear when Sister Bear arrived in 1974. The Berenstains described the characters thusly: "A bluff, overenthusiastic Papa Bear who wore bib overalls and a plaid shirt and... a wise Mama Bear who wore a blue dress with white polka dots... and a bright, lively little cub".Asim, Jabari
"Bear Necessities"
The Washington Post, 2002-11-24, p. BW06. Like other ''Berenstain Bears'' books, especially other early books in the series, ''The Big Honey Hunt'' features Papa Bear ignoring the advice of the wise Mama Bear, getting into trouble, and finally relenting. The book, like other early ''Berenstain Bears'' books, focuses primarily on the relationship between father and son while Mama Bear plays only a secondary role. Later books began to focus more on other relationships, especially after the introduction of Sister Bear.Shattuck, Kathryn

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 5 January 2003. The book's visuals also differ from later books in the series, particularly in character design. In ''The Big Honey Hunt'' and other early ''Berenstain Bears'' books, the bears have larger and more pronounced ears and noses, thicker eyebrows, and lighter fur than their later redesigns. The plaid shirt Papa wears under his overalls is red and white instead of yellow and black.

Publication and legacy

''The Big Honey Hunt'' was published in 1962 by

, an imprint of

co-founded and edited by Dr. Seuss. The book was well-received, with ''

'' praising its "good, simple vocabulary" and "natural repetition". Initially, after its release, Stan and Jan proposed creating a series based around their bear characters to be published by Beginner Books, but Seuss encouraged them to do something different. They began work on a book about a penguin, which they worked on for a few months. In the meantime, however, Random House salesmen had been marketing ''The Big Honey Hunt'' and it had been selling well. Seuss revisited their idea of turning the book into a series, which spawned ''The Bike Lesson'', and eventually many other books featuring the Berenstain Bears. The book was originally published with the authors' full names, Stanley and Janice, printed on the cover, but Seuss shortened their names to Stan and Jan in later editions, saying, "That's what you call each other. And that's what I call you. Besides, it fits on one line". The pair used the moniker "Stan and Jan Berenstain" throughout the rest of their career. In 2002, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the book's original publication, the Berenstains published an edition with an updated cover. In 2012, another update of the cover added a "50th-anniversary" logo but left the cover art unchanged from the 2002 edition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Honey Hunt, The 1962 children's books American children's books American picture books Berenstain Bears Books about bears Books about families