Winnie-the-Pooh

Recently, I re-read Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. Although I first read these books as a teenager, not as a child, I was well-prepared to love them thanks to Disney and some shortened storybooks about Pooh that I was very attached to as a child. (I may have watched Disney's cartoon about Pooh being stuck in Rabbit's hole about a million times as a child.) When I finally discovered the books themselves, I was delighted not just to find my favorite stories, but to see that A. A. Milne was a wise, witty, ironic author. It is clear that he loved telling and writing these stories as much as his son must have loved hearing them. I liked the way he included his conversations with his son in the book. You feel like you're listening in on their bedtime ritual. I'd love to read these books out loud to a child.

Obviously, one of the best things about these books are the characters. Although the Bear of Little Brain himself is always endearing, you really can't top Eeyore in my book. How can it get better than a gloomy, bitter, attention-starved stuffed donkey? It doesn't hurt that he also gets most of the best lines. One of my favorite Eeyore moments occurs when Eeyore suddenly realizes in the middle of his thank-you speech that a party he thought was for himself is actually for Pooh bear:

"I might have known," said Eeyore, "After all, one can't complain. I have my friends. Somebody spoke to me only yesterday. And was it last week or the week before that Rabbit bumped into me and said 'Bother!' The Social Round. Always something going on."

I love it. Poor old Eeyore.

I also love this:

Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent."When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.