Famous Bears and Friends: One Hundred Years of Teddy Bear Stories, Poems, Songs, and Heroics

Youngsters can celebrate the Teddy bear's 100th birthday with Famous Bears & Friends: One Hundred Years of Teddy Bear Stories, Poems, Songs, and Heroics by Janet Wyman Coleman, illus. by various artists. A dispute still lingers about who invented the stuffed bear (Was it a pair of Russian immigrant toymakers living in Brooklyn or Germany's Margarete Steiff?) and the alternate histories (plus the legend of Teddy Roosevelt's contribution to the toy bear's nickname) kick off this affectionate homage. A chapter each from Winnie-the-Pooh and A Bear Called Paddington; Don Freeman's complete Corduroy; and poems by A.A. Milne, Shel Silverstein and Judith Viorst contribute to this handsomely designed treasury.