Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
I do try to read the current Caldecott books though I have been underwhelmed in recent years. This is the latest one on our shelves and I loved it. First of all, it is non-fiction, though I did not, at first, get who Winnie was, even after reading the subtitle. I may not have thought immediately of Winnie the Pooh as being the world's most famous bear, but it could be true as Winnie the Pooh books have been translated into so many languages.
The book starts with "Could you tell me a story?" and there's a mom with her little boy Cole, telling a family history. I've loved family history children's books before, but this is a family history, that affects all of us who have ever read a Winnie the Pooh book, but I am getting ahead of myself. So we have Cole's great-great grandpa working as a veterinarian in Winnipeg. He goes off to take care of Canadian troop horses in WWI. He sees a bear cub in a train station, buys the cub off of a trapper and names it Winnipeg, after his home town, or Winnie, for short. Winnie becomes the mascot of the regiment and even crosses the ocean to England with them. Once they have to leave for the front, he takes Winnie to the London Zoo. Who should discover Winnie in the zoo? Christopher Robin Milne, of course, who then names his toy bear Winnie the Pooh, and his father Alan Alexander Milne writes the Winnie the Pooh book series. Then we return to great-great-grandpa, who returns home, and we see a family tree that ends up with Cole.
The illustrations are gentle and lovely. After the story, there are images as if from the family album, with real photos of great-great grandpa and Winnie the bear - even one of a statue of the two in Winnipeg erected in 1992. The book just made me feel all warm and fuzzy, like hugging a childhood teddy bear.
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