Pooh
I first had my suspicions that Winnie-the-Pooh was more than just an annoying cartoon, when, a couple years ago I read the article "Lessons from a Bear of Very Little Brain". Don't worry...before I read that I WAS aware that the Disney Winnie-the-Pooh was taken from an old children's book, but that was about as far as my knowledge went. The Disney Pooh had always seemed annoyingly boring (even more so than other cartoons), but after reading that article, I began to wonder if perhaps the original Winnie-the-Pooh was much different than the cartoon character that is all most children know today. And I always meant to someday read the real Pooh stories, but I never got the chance...until I went to Bible college.
I forget exactly how it started...possibly I discovered that my friend Anna had The World of Pooh (which contains Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner...the two ORIGINAL Pooh books by A.A. Milne) and I expressed that I had wanted to read the REAL Pooh books for a long time...or maybe Anna just wanted to share the delights of Pooh with someone else and I was a very willing ear! Regardless of how it began...it soon became a treat to "get my Pooh story". On evenings when we weren't incredibly busy or didn't have a tremendous amount of homework (and sometimes even if I DID have a tremendous amount of homework...but let's get priorities straight here, right?!), I would curl up on Anna's bed under a blanket and she would sit in her blue plush chair and read me "my Pooh story". Sometimes other girls would join us and we would listen intently to the adventures and happenings of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.
And oh...the books are SO much better than the cartoons (obviously!...is that even a question?!)...so much beyond better that I really don't think that the cartoons should even be referred to as dealing with Winnie-the-Pooh...the weak Disney-fied cartoons and the delightful personalities that A.A. Milne created are two completely opposite things! In one word, the REAL Pooh books are...delightful. They are full of simple, innocent humor...found mostly in Eeyore's sarcasm. My friends at school heard me say it many times...A.A. Milne is a literary genius! The Pooh books are simple enough that children enjoy them...and delightful enough that adults do too...what brilliant writing!
Obviously, after realizing what a treasure Pooh stories were, I had to have my own to read over and over, so I ordered a copy of The World of Pooh. And I discovered that reading Pooh yourself is just as wonderful as listening to it read to you...especially with all the random capitalization of usually-not-capitalized-words A.A. Milne throws in to add to what the characters are saying. For instance...Out of All Danger...Luncheon Time...Thing to Do...Special Pencil Case...Provisions...It Explains Everything...One of the Fiercer Animals...Clever Idea...a Sustaining Book...There It Is...Spotted or Herbaceous Backson...Great Help...Expotition...Very Happy Thursday...etc. Maybe it's just because I love words so much...but I find that kind of thing quite funny!
In order to whet your appetite so you all can share in the delights of Pooh, I was going to share some of my favorite quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, but the post was getting much too long, so I'm going to put those all in a separate post...one that will hopefully show you how much you are missing by not reading Pooh!
"A merry heart does good, like medicine..." ~Proverbs 17:22a
I forget exactly how it started...possibly I discovered that my friend Anna had The World of Pooh (which contains Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner...the two ORIGINAL Pooh books by A.A. Milne) and I expressed that I had wanted to read the REAL Pooh books for a long time...or maybe Anna just wanted to share the delights of Pooh with someone else and I was a very willing ear! Regardless of how it began...it soon became a treat to "get my Pooh story". On evenings when we weren't incredibly busy or didn't have a tremendous amount of homework (and sometimes even if I DID have a tremendous amount of homework...but let's get priorities straight here, right?!), I would curl up on Anna's bed under a blanket and she would sit in her blue plush chair and read me "my Pooh story". Sometimes other girls would join us and we would listen intently to the adventures and happenings of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.
And oh...the books are SO much better than the cartoons (obviously!...is that even a question?!)...so much beyond better that I really don't think that the cartoons should even be referred to as dealing with Winnie-the-Pooh...the weak Disney-fied cartoons and the delightful personalities that A.A. Milne created are two completely opposite things! In one word, the REAL Pooh books are...delightful. They are full of simple, innocent humor...found mostly in Eeyore's sarcasm. My friends at school heard me say it many times...A.A. Milne is a literary genius! The Pooh books are simple enough that children enjoy them...and delightful enough that adults do too...what brilliant writing!
Obviously, after realizing what a treasure Pooh stories were, I had to have my own to read over and over, so I ordered a copy of The World of Pooh. And I discovered that reading Pooh yourself is just as wonderful as listening to it read to you...especially with all the random capitalization of usually-not-capitalized-words A.A. Milne throws in to add to what the characters are saying. For instance...Out of All Danger...Luncheon Time...Thing to Do...Special Pencil Case...Provisions...It Explains Everything...One of the Fiercer Animals...Clever Idea...a Sustaining Book...There It Is...Spotted or Herbaceous Backson...Great Help...Expotition...Very Happy Thursday...etc. Maybe it's just because I love words so much...but I find that kind of thing quite funny!
In order to whet your appetite so you all can share in the delights of Pooh, I was going to share some of my favorite quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, but the post was getting much too long, so I'm going to put those all in a separate post...one that will hopefully show you how much you are missing by not reading Pooh!
"A merry heart does good, like medicine..." ~Proverbs 17:22a