Sonya Jacobs, MS, CCC-SLP

About the Composer, Bookwriter and Lyricist

Mrs. Jacobs is a member of the Dramatist Guild of America and MusicalWriters.com. She holds a BA in Vocal Performance and MS in Speech-Language Pathology, with specialty in early childhood and voice disorders.  She has also trained at the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenendoah University. 

Mrs. Jacobs has performed and recorded with Atlanta Master Chorale, Northern Arizona University Chorale and Chamber Singers, recorded and released 2 solo EP's and has been a local soloist for oratorios, churches and events.  As a singer-songwriter, voice and piano teacher and speech-language pathologist, Mrs. Jacobs has many years of experience working with children and adults in music, therapy, classroom, studio and theatrical settings. She has enjoyed teaching many musical theatre students to sing, and was actually searching for an audition song for a young singer/actor when the idea of creating a new musical began. 

Winnie-the-Pooh, Jr is her first musical. Since childhood, Sonya has loved singing, music, reading and animals. She and her husband Bill have two inspiring daughters and have had a houseful of beloved pets! She is grateful for her family's support and their countless conversations about Pooh Bear!

Alan Alexander Milne

(1882-1956)

A.A. Milne with his son Christopher Robin (1920-1996) and Pooh Bear, at Cotchford Farm, their home in Sussex. Photo by Howard Coster, 1926.

A.A. Milne was a highly successful English novelist, playwright and poet. He published the first Winnie-the-Pooh book in 1926, and the final book, The House at Pooh Corner, in 1928,  along with his books of children's poetry, When We Were Very Young (1924), and Now We Are Six (1927).  All were illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard.

The book characters were inspired by his son and his stuffed animals.  His bear, which was originally named Edward, was renamed Winnie (short for Winnipeg) after a favorite Canadian black bear, which was used as a military mascot in World War I, and left to London Zoo during the war.

Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed toys are on display in New York where 750,000 people visit them every year. The fictional Hundred Acre Wood is based on Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, South East England,  where they often walked near their house on Cotchford Farm.  E. H. Shepard used the landscapes of Ashdown Forest as inspiration for many of the illustrations he provided for the books. Popular tourist locations at Ashdown Forest include: Galleon's Lap, The Enchanted Place, the Heffalump Trap, Eeyore's Sad and Gloomy Place, and the wooden Pooh Bridge where they invented Poohsticks.