Winnie: the True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh
Sally M. Walker, illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss
ISBN: 9780805097153
Sepia-shaded Rockwellian illustrations.
This was such a sweet story. I knew that Winnie had belonged to Harry Colebourn and then to the London Zoo, but not the details. This was the sweetest story, and I'm glad beyond measure that Winnie was a sweet-tempered bear, and that she was moved to a zoo before there were any unfortunate incidents. Colebourn bought (rescued) the cub from an old hunter at a train station, and Winnie (for Winnipeg) became the heart of the regiment. When the troops mustered to England for WWI nothing would do but for Winnie to come along, but when they were called to the front in France, they realized Winnie needed to be in a better place. The London Zoo had just finished a new naturalistic enclosure, and Winnie became the star resident, even getting fed and ridden by small children. This new home was where young Christopher Robin met Winnie, and history was sparked by a tiny frightened bear cub alone in a train station.
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