Sweet Pickles is a series of 40 children's books by Ruth Lerner Perle, Jacquelyn Reinach, and Richard Hefter and published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston, having sold over 50 million copies. The books are set in the fictional town of Sweet Pickles and are about anthropomorphic animals with different personalities and behavior. There are 26 animals, one for each letter of the alphabet; half are male, and half are female. The books were published in 1977 and went out of print in the mid-1990s. The authors also created Stickybear and the Strawberry Library. The series' name is a pun; in each book, the main character gets into a "pickle" (a difficult situation) because of an all-too-human personality trait. The front endpapers of the books portrayed the 26 characters, and the back endpapers portrayed a map of the town. The books were advertised with television commercials and a catchy jingle. There also existed a similar series, The AlphaPets, on which Ruth Lerner Perle collaborated in the early 1990s. The Sweet Pickles books were read in various episodes of the CBS television series Captain Kangaroo. In 2012, the brand celebrated its 35th anniversary and the books are being re-released as digitally enhanced E-Books. Sound effects, narration and character voices performed by voice actors have been added to the books. The first 26 Books (A-Z) have been available at all major E-Retailers as of Summer 2012. The E-Books were developed by Bento Box Interactive. Bento Box Interactive is a spin-off company of Bento Box Entertainment. Characters These people living in the town of Sweet Pickles are 26 animals, with their names beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Accusing Alligator Gender: Female Manager of the Tower Apartments. Always blaming everyone for things that are usually her own doing. Bashful Bear Gender: Male Quiet and shy, he is afraid to speak up or try almost anything. Clever Camel Gender: Female Owns the town's Fix-It shop. She is known for being able to fix anything. Doubtful Dog Gender: Male Doubts anything and everything, including himself. Enormous Elephant Gender: Female Owner of the town's supermarket. Tends to overeat. Fearless FishGender: Female She is a town daredevil, known for her motorcycle and her special helmet-and-tank suit, which serves the opposite function of a SCUBA suit, in that it has a water supply which allows her to breathe in air. She also delivers the village newspaper. Goof-off Goose