Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There was a Bear will publish on 30 September, marking the anniversary of A.A. Milne’s original stories which were released in October 1926.
Farshore has confirmed a new story collection to celebrate the 95th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh.
The official prequel, Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There was a Bear, will publish on 30th September 2021, marking the anniversary of A.A. Milne’s original Winnie-the-Pooh stories which were released in October 1926.
Written by Jane Riordan and accompanied by new illustrations by Mark Burgess in the style of E.H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There Was a Bear will take readers back to when Pooh was bought from Harrods for baby Christopher Robin.
It imagines the ‘before stories’ of Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet for the first time, and offers readers the chance to meet the younger Christopher Robin previously only glimpsed in Milne’s poetry.
From London and Christopher Robin’s Mallard Street playroom to the familiar surroundings of the Hundred Acre Wood, the collection follows Pooh and friends on a new series of adventures, with outings to the Natural History Museum and London Zoo, where Pooh meets his namesake, Winnipeg.
The real-life Canadian bear – known as Winnie – was visited by A.A. Milne and his son at London Zoo, inspiring the name of the book’s much-loved character.
“In the original stories, Pooh lives in a tree in the Hundred Acre Wood but history tells us that he was bought from Harrods for Christopher Robin’s first birthday,” commented author, Jane Riordan. “I couldn’t resist going back to this time in Once There Was a Bear and I loved the idea of seeing Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet in London and in the nursery written about so much in Milne’s poetry and beautifully captured in Shepard’s decorations.
“I hope readers will enjoy meeting some familiar friends again as they embark on new adventures.”
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter and @licensing_source on Instagram.
