4/14/2016
"Finding Winnie: The True Story of The World's Most Famous Bear" by Lindsay Mattick
Copyright 2015, 56 pages
Nonfiction, biography

Image taken from Goodreads

The moment I saw this picture book I know I want to read it. Winnie-the-Pooh is one of the first characters that taught me English. I grew up reading and watching the tales of the Hundred Acres Wood. If there was no Winnie-the-Pooh, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this blog today. If there was no Winnie, there will never be Winnie-the-Pooh. And so, naturally, I must know about this little baby black bear.

First off, I noticed that people made a huge fuss about how Winnie was a female. Truth be told, I never pictured Winnie-the-Pooh to be a male or female character. The character design and clothing was pretty gender-neutral to me. So is the adorable, unique voice. But in A. A Milne's first Winnie-the-Pooh book, I noticed that Christopher Robin initially named his stuffed toy "Edward Bear". And so when the name changes, I suppose people don't presume the gender changes as well. Either way, I care little whether Winnie-the-Pooh is a he or a she. The sudden confirmation that "he" is supposedly (?) a "she" did not alter the world-famous series one bit. Boy or girl, Pooh would still love eating honey, and say "oh, bother" every so often. Boy or girl, Pooh would still be that one figure that taught me how to not spell "honey". End of story.

Second off, I like how we had no clue that Mattick was Harry Colebourn's great-granddaughter right until the end. I like surprises. I'm pretty easy to please. Just give me an adorable little bear with big ears, a quote about future occupation from a young child ("that's what I will maybe be when I'm big!"), a reference to my first non-human English teacher, a little twist in the story - and you've got me. I will now shower this book with praises.

As I already noted, Winnie's illustration is so very adorable. I love her round big ears, and her two little eyes. She also grew slightly larger from page to page, barely noticeable, until finally we see Christopher Robin riding on her back. I always love it when artists give a lot of attention to detail. Partly because I can't draw, and partly because I know it must be a lot of work. I also like Mattick's approach in narration. She italicized the parts where she's conversing with Cole - zooming out of the tale for a short while - and left the rest of the story in normal font. It's different. I also find it as an invitation for parents to read the book aloud to (or together with) their children - which is always good.