Welcome back Winnie the Pooh

January 10, 4:27 PMSeattle Books ExaminerDanielle Dreger-Babbitt

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Great news for Winnie the Pooh fans both young and old:  the first authorized sequel to A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner  will hit bookstore and library shelves on October 5th, 2009.  The new title:  Return to Hundred Acre Wood.

Growing up, I was a massive fan of Winnie the Pooh (and Eeyore and Piglet and even Rabbit).  I still get the song "I'm Just a Little Black Rain Cloud" stuck in my head from time to time.  I carried around the Winnie the Pooh lunch box and collected the figurines through my freshman year of high school (that should be a pretty good indication of my level of dorkiness).  I'm not ashamed, though.  I'm a fan.

Milne died in 1956, so the sequel will be written by London author David Benedictus.  Benedictus is no stranger to Pooh Bear as he already has produced two audio books based on everyone's favorite "chubby little cubby."  Return to Hundred Acre Wood will be illustrated by Mark Burgess and published in the United States by Dutton Children's Books (an imprint of Pearson PLC's Penguin's Young Reader's Group).  The initial printing will be over 100,000 copies.

This is exactly what the publishing industry and bookstores need during this economic slump.  Return to Hundred Acre Wood will definitely be on my 2009 reading list.