Winnie-the-Pooh fans can get the real story behind the bear that inspired A.A. Milne's stories of the Hundred Acre Wood in Sally M. Walker's (Written in Bone) picture book account.
Veterinarian Harry Colebourn spies the cub from a train window and hops out onto the platform to "see the bear for himself." When the man holding the cub's leash says, "She's for sale," Harry buys her for $20 and climbs back on the train. Debut artist Jonathan D. Voss shows a rail car filled with men in uniform, as Harry assures his captain that he'll take care of the cub. "Winnipeg can be our mascot," Harry says. (He named the bear after their military company's hometown.) Several vignettes depict man and bear playing hide and seek and sharing bear hugs, and Winnie sleeping under Harry's cot. When the company ships out to England, Winnie goes, too, and fares better than poor seasick Harry does. But after the soldiers are ordered to a battlefield in France, Harry must leave Winnie behind in the London Zoo. The scenes of Henry and Winnie parting are among Voss's most emotional paintings. But readers will be uplifted by images of Winnie settling into her new surroundings and a blossoming friendship with frequent visitor named Christopher Robin that served as inspiration to the boy's author father. An endnote gives a timeline for the book's events.
Children will be delighted to learn more about an extraordinary bear whose spirit is so aptly captured in Milne's stories. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness