''Winnie-the-Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World'' is the second authorised

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to A. A. Milne's original ''

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

'' stories. It was published on 6 October 2016 to mark the 90th anniversary of the

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Convention, articl ...

of the first ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' book. The sequel is an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of four short stories, each written by a leading children's author. The four contributors are Paul Bright, Jeanne Willis, Kate Saunders, and Brian Sibley. The

illustrations An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

, in the style of the originals by

E. H. Shepard Ernest Howard Shepard (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in ''The Wind in the Willow ...

, are by Mark Burgess. The book attracted national press coverage because of the introduction of a new character, Penguin.

Plot

Each of the stories is devoted to one of the seasons in the Hundred Acre Wood, opening with "Autumn" by Paul Bright. Christopher Robin is excited to be appearing as

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

in the village play, but he alarms Pooh and Piglet with talk of a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

. Meanwhile, Eeyore is possessively guarding Something Interesting, but is it something AD or something BC? With so many questions to ask what can the friends do when Christopher Robin has asked not to be disturbed? "Winter" by Brian Sibley introduces a new character, Penguin. Christopher Robin says Penguin needs Bringing Out of Himself. But will Penguin stay long enough for the friends to get to know him? In "Spring" by Jeanne Willis, the birds are nesting and Winnie-the-Pooh is admiring the daffodils and humming to himself when he encounters Eeyore feeling gloomy because he is convinced that another donkey is after his thistles. Pooh sets out to find this other donkey and Piglet agrees to help as long as the other donkey is not a Heffalump. In "Summer" by Kate Saunders, Christopher Robin tells Winnie-the-Pooh all about the Sauce of the Nile, which makes Pooh wonder if the river in the Hundred Acre Wood also has its own sauce so he sets off with Piglet,

Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

, Tigger and the others to find out.

The new character

Shortly before publication, it was announced that ''The Best Bear in All the World'' would introduce a new character to the Hundred Acre Wood in the form of Penguin. ''The Guardian'' reports how author Brian Sibley was inspired to create the character by a photograph of A. A. Milne's son, Christopher (the real Christopher Robin), with a toy penguin. Sibley said, "For me, the challenge was more than just attempting to play A. A. Milne in his own literary game. I also wanted to find a way of successfully introducing a brand new character into Pooh's world, whilst being sympathetic to the tone and

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

of the original books. The thought of Pooh encountering a penguin seemed no more outlandish than his meeting a kangaroo and a tiger in a

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

wood, so I started thinking about what might have happened if, on a rather snowy day, Penguin had found his way to Pooh Corner." ''The Stylist'' reports that Penguin is the first new character to be authorised by the Milne estate. ''The Independent'' reports that the original penguin toy is also thought to have been bought at

Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...

. "The toy department where Mrs.Milne bought the iconic bear hosted a huge array of stuffed animals," said Harrods archivist Sebastian Wormell. "In the early years of the 20th century, toy penguins soared in popularity as the exploits of

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

explorers such as Shackleton and Scott fascinated the public. We believe that the toy pictured could be Squeak, which originated in our 1922 catalogue and came from '' Pip, Squeak and Wilfred'', a popular cartoon-strip."

Other sequels

This is the second authorised sequel to Milne's original stories. The first, '' Return to the Hundred Acre Wood'', was written by

David Benedictus David Henry Benedictus (16 September 1938 – 4 October 2023) was an English writer and theatre director, best known for his novels. His work included the Winnie-the-Pooh novel '' Return to the Hundred Acre Wood'' (2009). It was the first such ...

and also illustrated by Mark Burgess. This also introduced a new character, Lottie the Otter. Another special adventure was conceived for Pooh's 90th birthday, '' Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen'', in which Pooh visits

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

for the occasion of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

's 90th birthday.

References

{{Winnie-the-Pooh 2016 children's books Winnie-the-Pooh books British children's books Children's books about bears Children's books about pigs Children's books about tigers Children's books about penguins Egmont Books books Cultural depictions of Christopher Robin Milne