There's a rumor going round Hundred Acre Wood that Christopher Robin has returned.
Some thought it would never happen, but after more than 80 years away, he's back, and so are Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and the gang.
Written by novelist David Benedictus and illustrated by Mark Burgess, "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood" is the first authorized sequel to A.A. Milne's Pooh stories since the 1920s.
Everyone's favorite "silly old bear" leapt into the public consciousness in 1926 with Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh." Accompanied by Ernest H. Shepherd's now-iconic images, "Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" tell the adventures of Christopher Robin and his animal friends.
"The House at Pooh Corner" ends at what seems to be a natural stopping place, with Christopher Robin on his way to boarding school. But many have hoped for a continuation.
The trustees of the Pooh Properties Trust have wanted to do a sequel for a long time, said Lauri Hornik, president and publisher of Dutton Children's Books. And though the trust received numerous manuscripts over the years, the trustees never felt any of the authors were up to the task, Hornik said in an interview from her New York office.
That changed when David Benedictus, the producer of Winnie-the-Pooh audio adaptations, showed trustees a few stories he had written. His imagining of the Pooh characters was "so much in the tradition (of Milne) and so terrifically done that the trustees finally realized they had an author who was worthy of it," Hornik said.
Though Benedictus was the one to approach the trust with ideas, his job was not easy. His work had to not only compliment but also maintain the feel of the classics. It's a task he excelled at, Hornik said. "I think that he really has the warmth and the quirkiness that everyone so loves about Milne. He's bringing out the parts of these characters' personalities that we all just know so well. It really is there from the first two pages on."
When it came to pairing Benedictus' work with illustrations, Burgess was the obvious choice. Burgess is the illustrator of some shorter, spin-off Pooh pieces as well as some Paddington Bear books. "He was one (the trustees) already knew," Hornik said. He does "the Ernest Shepherd characters in a really lovely way."
Both author and illustrator worked closely with trust and publishers — Egmont Publishing in the United Kingdom and Dutton in the United States — who gave notes throughout the development of the project.
It was a long, collaborative process taking about three years from the time Benedictus was chosen, Hornik said. And it looks like that process is paying off. "Hundred Acre Wood" debuted as the No. 3 children's chapter book on the New York Time Bestseller list its first week out.
If initial sales are any kind of predictor, "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood" could be called a success. But not everyone is happy about the sequel. Some critics have come down hard, questioning the need for another book and saying the characters aren't the same.
"I would be surprised if there wasn't any of that kind of talk when you're bringing out a sequel to a classic," Hornik said. "But it's a book that really satisfies the kid reader that most people have been very receptive to, right off the bat. … The general public seems very eager for it."
Hornik hopes that eagerness will translate into a resurgence in popularity for Milne's books as well. "One of the things that we here have all been so thrilled about," Hornik said, "is that it would bring back front and center the classic books of Milne's. That people would then be reading those again, and that they really would now become public consciousness, books that every parent is reading to his or her kids."
The Pooh books offer a combination of humor and coziness that appeals to everyone. And the styling and use of words is lyrical, making them terrific read-aloud choices, Hornik said
They give kids the chance to see their own emotions in the characters, to feel the joy of being a kid of just typical pleasures, Hornik said. It's a feeling she knows first-hand.
"I myself certainly remember them very intimately from my own childhood," she said. "I have read these books to myself through these years and now have read them to my own 5-year-old. I think they just have such a lasting, to-the-heart connection with kids. "
e-mail: jharrison@desnews.com