about the book
Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian from Canada, was leaving to go to England to fight in World War I. At the train station, Harry saw a black bear cub for sale. The cub was an orphan, and if no one bought her, who knows where she would end up? Harry loved animals, and the man and the bear bonded instantly. Harry named the bear cub Winnie, short for Winnipeg, his military company’s hometown.
At the training camp in England, Winnie followed Harry everywhere, sleeping under his bunk, and becoming the company’s beloved mascot. However, there was a problem: Who would take care of Winnie when Harry had to deploy to combat?
Harry found the perfect caretaker at the London Zoo—where a little boy named Christopher Robin saw him and fell in love!
about the author
A note on her fifth grade report card said that “Sally often daydreams during school.” Sally Walker admits that she was a big daydreamer—about books. After her parents made sure that she understood the class material, they let her daydream in peace.
Each summer, her sister, a friend, and Sally wrote a neighborhood newspaper containing the block’s news, jokes, and short stories. They sold it to earn money to buy comics and paperbacks. Her father’s amazing stories of real people and events led Sally to her life of exploring, learning, and researching science and history. She studied geology and archaeology at Upsala College and has written over fifty books geared to the young reader over the last twenty years. An important part of her writing process is researching and consulting with experts in the field she is writing about.
Sally’s advice for the perfect gifts for a young writer—a library card, paper and pencils, and time to wander and daydream!
Sally lives in DeKalb, Illinois, with her husband, James Walker, a petrologist. You can find some of Sally’s books under other two other pen names, Sally Fleming and Sally Macart Walker.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Wikipedia
Author interview: As the Eraser Burns
Also by Sally M. Walker:
Freedom Song : The Story of Henry Box Brown. Harper Collins. 2012.
Druscilla’s Halloween. Carolrhoda. 2009.
The Vowel Family : A Tale of Lost Letters. Carolrhoda. 2008.
about the illustrator
John Voss says he has been doing art-like things for as long as he can remember. He only realized he was different from the other kids in school when, in third grade, he began getting requests from them to draw this or that. Until that time, John assumed everyone could draw as well as he did.
Jump forward about 20 years to 2010, when John decided that he wanted to write and draw picture books for a living. He signed with his agent at Inkwell Management, and has never looked back.
John’s eccentricities are many: He listens to Christmas music all year round, the good old stuff, like Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby. Sometimes he listens—not “watches,” but listens—to movies in the background while he is working on projects. His favorite picture book is The Polar Express, and his favorite novel—well, he never really started reading novels. Never got past picture books.
Wake Forest, North Carolina is where John, his wife Molly, son Malachi, daughter Lily, and white spotted dog Skooter make their home.
Source:
Illustrator website
read more!
Freedom Song : The Story of Henry Box Brown by Sally M. Walker
Henry Brown is a slave. He copes with the hardships of his everyday hard life by singing. But when his wife and his children are cruelly sold by his master, Henry is left with only his freedom song. It gives him strength when a white friend helps conceals him in a large shipping container and mails Henry to a free state.
Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch by Mona Kerby
On a rainy night in 1888, a stray dog wandered into the Albany, New York post office. Mailmen next day found him sleeping on a pile of mail pouches. After no one came to claim him, the mailmen named the dog Owney, making him their pet. Owney soon proved he is more than just an average mutt—he was a dog with a heart for adventure!
Polar the Titanic Bear by Daisy Corning S. Spedden
Polar, our narrator, is a stuffed polar bear that traveled with the author’s son Douglass. Polar traveled with Douglass everywhere, to places like Madeira, Algiers, and Paris, as well as onto a new luxury liner called the Titanic. The Spadden family survived the sinking of the famous ship, and Polar tells the tale!