Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

I've already posted a Winnie-the-Pooh love post but I'm going to do it again so I may express my admiration for the true author of the Pooh bear (no, it's not Walt Disney).

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

As you can see in the picture above, I have multiple copies of this beloved character.  Why?  Well, have you read the stories?  If you've only seen the Disney versions of these tales, you are sorely missing out.  Yes, the Disney versions are based on these stories.  I remember watching the Pooh story when he gets stuck in Rabbit's tree cause he's too fat.  But then I actually read the original story and it just seemed more true, much softer....more raw.  I don't know what it is, but I love the little naked bear compared to the bear with the red shirt.

Only 4 books were written about Pooh.  Two are actual novels and the other two are poem compilation books that include some poems about the characters.

When We Were Very Young - published in 1924
Winnie-the-Pooh - published in 1926
Now We Are Six - published in 1927
The House at Pooh Corner - published in 1928

As you can see, the original Winnie-The-Pooh book was not the first appearance, even though it's the first novel about the bear and his friends.  When you read the book, you will see a poem in there called "Teddy Bear".  This is about Christopher Robin's stuffed bear, which will eventually become Winnie-the-Pooh in further stories.

So let me go through each of these books that I have.  The one pictured above is the FULL complete set....the one I highly recommend getting cause it will be the cheapest out of all of them.  They include the two novels plus the two poem books.  I currently have two copies.  The first I purchased on Thriftbooks and the other I found with a dust jacket at a thrift store for $4.00.  Thriftbooks is only about $1.00 more expensive (plus .99 cent shipping if you don't order more than $10) and I've only seen the book once in the last 3 years in a thrift store.  You can click here to purchase from Thriftbooks if you'd rather not wait that long to find a copy:

The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by: A. A. Milne $4.84

or if you are a person who is strictly Amazon, you will be paying around $8 plus shipping for a used copy, but you can purchase here to do that:
                                                                    

There are also these two beauties as well.  These are smaller so they are much easier to handle and are very classy looking on a bookshelf.  I only have the two novels because I found these two at a thrift store for $2.00 each.  I had to bring them home because they were in new condition.  No tears, no scuffs, no writing, and not a single page had been bent.  I really don't think the owners before had even read the books.  I was thrilled to adopt them.  If you'd rather have these books for easier handling and for eye candy ;-)......  you have to purchase each one separately on Thriftbooks

Winnie-the-Pooh by: Milne, A. A. $3.59

The House at Pooh Corner by: A. A. Milne $3.59

or you can purchase the complete set of all four books on Amazon by clicking here:
                                                                   

                                         

I just had to show this copy I got at a thrift store.  While it's not even a whole novel, it has three of the stories from one of the books.  I mainly got it because it was the first Scholastic printing from 1966.  And that was still 40 years after the book was published.  And how I wish brand new paperbacks from scholastic were still only .50 cents.

The main reason I have this last copy of a Winnie the Pooh story is because of this:

It has a two full pages of stickers of the original drawings.  All unused and all reusable to place in the book.  And guess what??????

They've been unused since 1986.  Found this gem at the thrift store for 50 cents.

Winnie the Pooh and Milne facts:

1. Winnie the Pooh was named after a real bear that Christopher Milne (A.A.'s son) enjoyed watching.  The bear's name was Winnipeg, or Winnie for short.
2. Christopher Robin was based on Milne's son, Christopher, but Christopher disliked his image in the book; saying that is was wrong of his father to use him to make novels..... (crap, if my father made a novel based on me, I'd take that as a loving gesture!!)
3. Disney now owns the rights to the Winnie franchise and has since the early 60s.  They are the ones who stuck a red shirt on Pooh
4. The quote "If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you" is actually misquoted.  Here is the real quote: 

"Pooh, promise you won’t forget about me, ever. Not even when I’m a hundred.”

Pooh thought for a little. “How old shall I be then?” 

“Ninety-nine.”

Pooh nodded.

“I promise,” he said.”

Sorry, to bust your bubble on that one.

There is only ONE true Winnie the Pooh

I'm a Winnie the Pooh fan.  Not the Disney version, I mean the original A. A. Milne Winnie the Pooh.

Is there a difference?  YES!  There's just something nicer about the original.  I love the stories, the poems and illustrations.  But of course, I guess if it wasn't for Disney, Pooh wouldn't be as possible.

A. A. Milne created Pooh from the imagination of his child, Christopher Robin (yep, the boy in his stories is based on his son) and his stuffed bear.

You would think for a character so popular that there would be so many books out there about Pooh Bear, but in fact, Milne only wrote two and two verse books of poems about the characters.

So here, in my much delight, is this compilation of both books and both verse books in just ONE book!  Plus all the original illustartions by E.H. Shepherd in color.  I do have this large book plus I have the single copies of the Winnie-The-Pooh and The House On Pooh Corner.

I absolutely love the original pooh stories.  Each book of course is in chapters, but they are set up that each chapter is a single adventure.  This makes it easy to read to your child every night without having to read a whole book or stop without hanging on the edge.

The stories are so cute and, in my opinion, would still captivate children of this generation including adults.  

(Disney's books and episodes are based off the original stories)

So why only four Pooh books?

Milne was actually quite annoyed of the popularity.  He loved being able to write what he wanted and how he wanted but I guess with everyone loving the pooh books, everyone wanted him to write this certain way.  Plus, his son was getting older, so he was losing his inspiration.  

In the 1930's, Milne gave the rights to his characters to Stephen Slesinger who was such a marketing expert, I believe he deserves big credit for making Pooh so worldwide.  After he passed, his widow took over the business and gave certain rights to Disney to develop TV shows, movies and books.  

  

What is it about Pooh bear that I find so intriguing?  I love the fact that he used his son as inspiration.  I mean, really...even games that were played in the stories were real games that were played by Christopher Robin.  Even the other characters like Piglet, Roo, Tigger, etc. were all based on his sons other stuffed animals.  Do you even want to know how Winnie the Pooh got his name?  Well, you got to read the book, it explains it in the first chapter.  Christopher Robin was even quoted that his dad did not write these stories for children or for adults.  He wrote it for him.  

How and where to buy?  I highly recommend buying the complete book, this will save you a lot of money.  The complete book has:

Winnie-the-Pooh

The House on Pooh Corner

When We Were Very Young

Now We Are Six

The cheapest place you will find this book is on Thriftbooks.com (where I got my copy) for $4.33.  If you buy it from Amazon, expect to pay at least $13 for a decent copy.  

If you choose to buy each individual book, it will cost you about $3.50 to $4 for each one.

Interesting facts: 

Disney is credit of giving Winnie the Pooh the red shirt

Christopher Robin when he was young didn't like the fact that his dad wrote a book based on him.  He was teased in school from it and claimed his dad was basically riding his shoulders

The original stuffed animals of Christopher that the stories came from can be seen at the New York Public Library except for Roo.  Christopher lost him in the 30s.

The One Hundred Acre Woods is based off a real place in Sussex, England and has become a tourist attraction.