Finding Winnie: the Pooh Bear’s True History

This year’s Caldecott award went to a picture book that tells the true story behind a novel: Finding Winnie.

A charming story about the author’s great-grandfather. Finding Winnie describes how he adopted a bear while traveling by troop train from Winnepeg, Canada, to  a port from which they sailed to England in the early days of  World War I.

The novel?

You probably don’t consider it as historical, but it’s Winnie the Pooh, first published in 1926.

For most of us, Winnie the Pooh is a whimsical joy in the Hundred Acre Wood with a boy, Christopher Robin, and his friends: Tigger, Roo, Kanga, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, Tigger and, most of all, Winnie the Pooh himself.

And that’s exactly how it should be as we read the beloved story and its sequels to our children, grandchildren, neighborhood children and spouses.

There’s not much in the Milne stories that sets them in a specific time in history.

And yet, Winnie himself (herself?) was a real bear—and one Christopher Robin Milne knew in childhood at the London Zoo.

But how did a North American brown bear end up in London?

Captain Harry Colebourn brought him there.

That’s the story told in Finding Winnie.

The children in my life loved it.

More than once.

Making war, not exactly fun

Considering the author, Lindsay Maltick, dealt with a World War I story and made it fun—is a wonder, well deserving of an award.

The Caldecott is given for the “most distinguished American picture book for children,” of the year. That means the pictures are important. I’ve included an actual photo and the drawing from the book.

Wonderful.

Illustrator Sophie Blackall did a superb job of showing soldiers, bears, travel, England and even some weather, without depressing or frightening a child.

The colors are a muted pastel, yet vividly tell the story.

Winnie looked charming.

My kids loved seeing the real photos at the end showing where the illustrations came from.

You can read the true story in my blog post, World War I Animals: Winnie the Pooh.

Or, you can get a copy of Finding Winnie to share.

Tweetables

A silly old bear and WWI–all in a picture book. Click to Tweet

The Caldecott goes to Winnie the Pooh’s backstory. Click to Tweet

Finding Winnie; the true picture tale of Winnie the Pooh’s origins. Click to Tweet

Lindsay Maltick tells us about the book on a Youtube presentation here: