Strong Sales for Berenstain Bears
by Karen Raugust, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 11/25/2008
Zonderkidz launched its first four faith-based paperbacks under the Berenstain Bears Living Lights banner on September 30 and has sold a combined total of 100,000 copies in the first six weeks. The books, The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule, The Berenstain Bears Go to Sunday School, The Berenstain Bears Say Their Prayers and The Berenstain Bears: God Loves You!, are the first of a total of 12 titles planned, with the next two scheduled for spring.
Mike Berenstain, who has authored the Berenstain books with his mother Jan (his father Stan passed away in 2005), said the family has had an interest in doing faith-based books for some time. "For many years, we've received requests from folks from traditional, religious families who liked the values in our books," he said. These fans wanted additional titles that were more specifically religious. A couple of years after the authors moved their frontlist general-market publishing exclusively to HarperCollins in 2005, the idea for the faith-based books became reality through Harper's Zonderkidz subsidiary. (Original publisher Random House continues to sell backlist titles.)
The Berenstains' first book, The Berenstain Bears' Big Honey Hunt, came out in 1962, and the franchise has generated 260 million in unit sales since then, with more than 3.5 million sold in the U.S. each year. The quick-service chain Chick-Fil-A will be doing a 4 million-copy Berenstain Bears promotion this spring that will include The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule, along with several HC titles.
