Bear Story

Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100 this year. People of all ages love the willy-nilly silly old bear. You might know him from a cartoon. He is a yellow bear in a little red shirt. He is often found in a jar of “hunny.” Before he was on a screen, he was in a book.

Pooh and his friends celebrate in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a movie from 1977.

Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 1926. The book was written by A.A. Milne. It was illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. Learn how this beloved bear came to be.

Christopher Robin’s Pal

Christopher Robin is a character in Winnie-the-Pooh. He is based on Milne’s son, Christopher. Christopher had a stuffed bear. Its name was Mr. Edward Bear. Then Christopher saw a bear in the London Zoo. Its name was Winnipeg. Christopher renamed his bear Winnie. The name Pooh came from a pet swan.

Characters in Winnie-the-Pooh are based on real people and toys. Here is the real Christopher Robin with his Pooh in 1925.

Christopher loved his bear. He asked his dad to tell him stories about it. His father turned the stories into books. They are set in a real place. The Hundred Acre Wood is based on Ashdown Forest. It is in England.

Ashdown Forest, in England, inspired the books’ setting.

Pooh and Friends

Milne’s stories of Pooh and friends grew very popular. In 1966, Walt Disney had the characters animated. They were put into a short. The characters have been on screens and in kids’ bedrooms ever since.

This early sketch shows Pooh and Piglet in the woods.

People can see Christopher’s original stuffed animals. They live at the New York Public Library (NYPL). Brent Reidy is a director of research libraries at NYPL. He says the display celebrates Winnie-the-Pooh and Milne. They have had the “ability to charm readers for 100 years,” he says, “and counting.”

Christopher’s Winnie-the-Pooh and other stuffed characters are on display at the New York Public Library, in New York City.