About Mike Berenstein

Michael Berenstain (born December 21, 1951) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. The son of the late Stan and Jan Berenstain, he continues the Berenstain Bears series of picture books that his parents inaugurated in 1962.

Michael was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at Philadelphia College of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His earliest work in the U.S. Library of Congress catalog was published in 1976: K'tonton on an Island in the Sea by Sadie Rose Weilerstein, which he illustrated as Michael Berenstain (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America). The third K'tonton book, it features "Adventures of a thumb-sized Jewish boy who must fend for himself when stranded on an island." During the next three years he wrote and illustrated four instructive picture books published by David McKay, The Castle Book and sequels on ships, armor, and lighthouses. He first collaborated with his parents by illustrating two picture books, The Day of the Dinosaur and After the Dinosaurs (Random House, 1987 and 1988), after which he did several dinosaur books (known as the I Love Dinosaurs book series) himself (including King of the Dinosaurs, The Biggest Dinosaurs, The Spike-Tailed Dinosaur, The Horned Dinosaur, and Flying Dinosaurs). These five books are the five sequels to The Day of the Dinosaur.