Finding Winnie
Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall
Orchard Books
When already past bedtime, young Cole requests a story, a true one, about a bear he gets just that. And so do we in this enchanting book about one that became the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh. The story is told by the great granddaughter of Captain Harry Coles a vet ,who met and bought an orphan bear cub on a station just as he was about to depart for a World War 1 training camp.

Named Winnipeg (after his home town), the bear captures the heart of Harry’s Colonel and is allowed to join the troops, becoming their mascot and eating them out of house and home. When they reach camp, Winnie becomes a fully fledged army member and even accompanies the soldiers across the Atlantic to England.

Once there she has to contend with the rigours of regimental training on Salisbury Plain; but it’s there in the depths of winter that the call to fight comes. Harry then has a difficult decision to make; should he find a safe place for Winnie? It’s then that mind wins over heart: London Zoo is that safe place and there Winnie is soon charming its many visitors.

There one story ends – kind of – and another begins for one of the zoo’s visitors is young Christopher Robin Milne. And the rest, we know is storybook literary history. A final ‘Album’ includes pertinent photographs (snapshots of Winnie, Harry and the soldiers, and Winnie and Christopher Robin), as well as some documents.
How deftly and magically the author weaves this historical story: it’s one that includes not only history but geography too. I particularly like the way Cole’s interjections move the story forwards: “ What do trappers do?” asked Cole.
“It’s what trappers don’t do. They don’t raise bears.” comes the response.
Equally magical are Sophie Blackall’s watercolour illustrations. Brilliantly expressive

and gently humorous, every one is a delight to behold.
A winning combination through and through.

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