A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh Book Sees Sequel After Eight Decades

Before Winnie the Pooh was produced as an icon in a plethora of Disney movies, cartoons and colorful picture books, he was drawn in the illustrations of E.H. Shepard as a rather English, rural and naked bear who lived in the Hundred Acre Wood, the setting of the children's tales penned by A.A. Milne in his 1928 book, The House at Pooh Corner.

Now after 81 years, author David Benedictus is succeeding Milne's hallowed legacy by writing the first authorized sequel to Pooh's authentic adventures with Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga and Roo, to be titled Return to the Hundred Acre Wood. Benedictus' follow-up went on sale Oct. 5 and picks up right where the original left off.

The works of Milne and Shepard are managed by the Trustees of Pooh Properties. The trustees have wanted to continue the stories for quite some time, provided they found the appropriate successor, one who could respect Milne's hushed tones and spirited prose. Having read the early story drafts by Benedictus, a novelist and playwright credited with various adaptations of Pooh tales, the trustees decided he was fit for the task.

"If I did it badly, it wouldn't be like I'd destroyed the originals," Benedictus told the Associate Press. "I hoped I could do it well. But no, I don't think I felt a weighty responsibility — that would have been a bit pompous."

Illustrator Mark Burgess returns the characters to their elementary forms, as they were first sketched by Shepard in the 1920's. The only additions to Hundred Acre Wood will be a slightly older Christopher Robin and a new refined resident, Lottie the Otter.

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