A new character is set to join Winnie-the-Pooh and friends following a chance discovery in a Scots archive.
The new character arrives in Hundred-Acre Wood in Winnie-the-Pooh: Tales from the Forest, a brand-new sequel to be published by HarperCollins’ imprint Farshore on September 28.
Author Jane Riordan was inspired to introduce the little dog Carmen after discovering that Winnie-the-Pooh author A.A. Milne had taken a toy dog mascot called Carmen with him to the trenches in the First World War.
In a rediscovered article from the Sunday Express in 1966, Daphne Milne, A.A. Milne’s wife, said: "My husband took a toy mascot, a dog called Carmen, to look after him in the First World War. He was saved from the Somme by trench fever.
"He wrote to say that Carmen had found a French germ in the trench and blown it on to him. Four years after that Christopher Robin was born."
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The article was discovered in HarperCollins’ archive in Bishopbriggs in the outskirts of Glasgow. It includes over 100,000 items including rare first editions, original artwork, correspondence, publicity and marketing material and more, covering HarperCollins’s 200+ year history.
About the discovery, Jane Riordan told The Herald: “I think there’s a real precedent for inviting new friends into the forest. In fact Tigger arrived quite late into Milne’s stories. He came into the second volume and at the time I think all the other animals were quite wary about this new bouncy creature and now of course we can’t imagine Winnie-the-pooh with out Tigger. Can we?
“I think Milne’s philosophy was very much that the forest should be shared and enjoyed so I thought it would be a really nice opportunity to bring a new character in.
"It was actually my publisher that went up to the archive in Glasgow and he dug around and found all sorts of treasures like original artwork and other wonderful things that are stored there. But he also found this really interesting article which was an interview with Christopher Robin’s mother Daphne and she spoke for the first time about Milne going off into the trenches in the First World War and he took this little dog with him, a toy mascot who he called Carmen, to bring him luck really, and I thought that this would be wonderful. It feels that Carmen has earned her place in the forest, if she was in his pocket for all those years.
“We don’t know very much about her, so it was quite fun for the illustrator to sort of let rip and imagine her as he wanted but my feeling was that she was probably really brave and that would be nice to give her that characteristic and make her quite feisty. She’s a bit sheepish but naughty. It’s just fun and it gives the other characters a new personality to sort off bounce off as well.
"We kept the name and the rest is from our imaginations but hopefully Milne would be pleased that she made it into the forest.”
Winnie-the-Pooh: Tales from the Forest sees Christopher Robin and friends go on adventures in seven brand-new stories set after the timeless tales in Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.
Written by Riordan in the style of A.A. Milne, the stories take readers back to much-loved places like the Poohsticks Bridge and Eeyore’s Gloomy Place, as well as featuring trips to the British Museum and the Tower of London.
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Riordan is author of the highly commended authorised prequel Once There Was a Bear, as well as Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen, and the recently published Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the King, celebrating the coronation.
In Winnie-the-Pooh: Tales from the Forest, Carmen, Winnie-the-Pooh, and friends are brought to life with beautiful illustrations by Mark Burgess in the style of E.H. Shepard’s original iconic decorations.
Burgess has been an artist of children’s books for the last twenty-five years and illustrated the authorised prequel Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There Was a Bear, Return to the Hundred Acre Wood and The Best Bear in All the World.
Cally Poplak, Executive Publisher at Farshore, said: ‘Pooh and friends are as much a part of childhood now as they were almost a century ago – they remain wonderful stories to share aloud with children and to inspire a love of reading.
"So, as we look forward to celebrating the centenary in 2026, Farshore is delighted to be publishing this utterly charming new collection of adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood by Jane Riordan and Mark Burgess, who have truly captured the magic of the original stories by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard."
Winnie-the-Pooh: Tales from the Forest , written by Jane Riordan and illustrated by Mark Burgess, is published by Farshore on September 28, for readers aged 5 to 95.
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