Paddington debuted in the 1958 book A Bear Called Paddington, and since then he has been featured in more than 20 other books (including Paddington’s Finest Hour, which was published in the U.K. in April and will arrive in the U.S. this fall), ranging from chapter tales or single-story picture books for younger readers.
Bond was inspired to create the character in 1956 after seeing a teddy bear sitting by itself on a shelf at a London store near Paddington Station (hence the name), and he ended up buying that bear for his wife.
Although Michael Bond created several children’s characters over his lifetime, like Olga de Polga and A Mouse Called Thursday, and wrote a series adult novels about the detective Monsieur Pamplemousse, he is best known for Paddington Bear, the anthropomorphic, friendly bear who loves marmalade and can’t help but get into trouble.