100 Years of Winnie the Pooh!

In 1926, a bear and his friends captured hearts around the world with the newly published book Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne and illustrator E. H. Shepard. Prior to this, Winnie-the-Pooh appeared in a children's story published by the London Evening News at Christmas of 1925.

This magical creation stemmed from several real-life inspirations, including a stuffed toy bear that Milne purchased for his son at Harrods and a bear they had admired at the London Zoo. Milne's son Christopher Robin naturally inspired the character that bore his name. The House at Pooh Corner followed in 1928. 

Children immediately responded to the characters and the book became a bestseller. Producer Stephen Slesinger purchased the US and Canadian merchandising and recording rights in 1930. Pooh proved to be a merchandiser’s dream, with dolls, records, additional books, radio broadcasts, and eventually evolved into animated feature films we all know and love. 

Hollywood even took notice of Pooh. In 1937, Louella O. Parsons reported in a Los Angeles Examiner column that her readers suggested Walt Disney turn Winnie-the-Pooh into a cartoon. We found this article by Ms. Parsons in our digitized Los Angeles Examiner Collection. The suggestion was far ahead of its time. Disney finally obtained the rights in 1961 and kept them until 2021, when they fell into the public domain.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh, and we hope you’ll revisit Milne’s sweet, funny books all about friendship and acceptance. LAPL has been putting Pooh on children’s recommended reading lists for many, many decades [see the LAPL book list from 1944 below]. You can find many of Milne’s books and DVDs at any of your local Los Angeles Public Library branches.