Thursday, January 1, 2009

Tiddley Pom.

The Pooh Storybook by A. A. Milne
with new illustrations in full color by E. H. Shepard
E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1965


One of my great loves in Children's literature exists in the world of the Hundred Acre Wood. I have MANY different Pooh books and toys and treasures. This is one of my earliest collected books. The book contains three stories--two from The House at Pooh Corner and one from Winnie the Pooh.

One thing must be said first and foremost and that is I love the original Pooh stories and verses and adore the drawings by Shepard. The Disney incarnation isn't nearly as special to me. That is not to say I don't love the cartoons with Sterling Holloway's voice. Those are wonderful too. It's more the picture book and product line that is less appealing. No, I love "Classic Pooh."

The first image is from the story "Piglet is Entirely Surrounded by Water." And I often have flood of 1997 flashbacks at the thought. I love that little Piglet writes a distress note and corks it in a bottle and tosses it out the window.



IN WHICH
A House is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore.
(from THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER)

This story has a very snowy setting, perfect for these white chilly winters we've been having. In this one, Pooh and Piglet decide they need to build a house for Eeyore and they find a nice pile of sticks and craft a lovely house for him, but it turns out they unknowingly used Eeyore's house to build him a new house. He is mystified as to how his house got moved to a new location!



IN WHICH
Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In
(from THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER)

Eeyore is my favorite Pooh character. He's so melancholy that I find him irresistible. He often seems to be an unfortunate fellow to whom bizarre things happen. In this story he ends up floating on his back in the river waiting to be helped out. Pooh and pals are playing a game of poohsticks, in which they drop sticks on one side of the bridge and watch the current carry them under the bridge to the other side when they discover Eeyore. Later, when he is back on the bank we learn the true reason for his watery escapade. It turns out he was "bounced."

My little summaries are nothing compared to the wonderful words Milne writes. Next time 'round I'll offer up a feast of quotes!

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