Children’s Book ‘Finding Winnie’ in Persian

Children’s book ‘Finding Winnie: the True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear,’ is now available in Persian.

Written by Canadian author Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Australian artist Sophie Blackall, ‘Finding Winnie’ was first published by American publishing house Little Brown in 2015.

The book has been translated into Persian by translator Niloufar Amanzadeh and released recently by Tehran-based Porteghaal Publication, ILNA reported.

Having released several books on the environment and wildlife, the publication picked Mattick’s story “to promote friendship between humans and animals.”

Mattick wrote the picture book to explore her family’s unique connection to the world’s most famous bear, Winnie-the-Pooh.

Winnie-the Pooh was a fictional bear created by English author Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956). Milne named his character after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo.

The bear cub was purchased in 1914 from a hunter for $20 by Canadian veterinarian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn (1887-1947) in White River, Ontario, while en route to England during the First World War. He named the cub Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg.

Mattick, who is Colebourn’s real-life great-granddaughter, tells in her book the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey, from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England, and finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie makes another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin who was another of Milne’s characters.

On the final pages of the book there are some actual photos of Winnie and Colebourn. Over a century has passed since Colebourn bought Winnie from the hunter, but new stories, films and animations are still being created about the two friends.