Edward Bear AKA Winnie The Pooh (The Complete Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne)

Member Name: preciouskdg

Product:	The Complete Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
Date:	15/12/03 (3249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic for all ages!, Available at reduced prices thru book clubs

Disadvantages: Big and heavy for youngsters and me to hold!

On beginning this book I had no idea that Winnie The Pooh was called Edward!!

I was given this book by my best friend for my 18th Birthday. A peculiar present you may think! But have you ever read it? The stories, poems and rhymes are heart felt and moving! Some still bring me to tears. But it is a childrens book, I hear you say! Again i ask, Have you ever read it?

The cover price for the book is £29.99, but Im hoping Anna did not spend that much on it. I have seen it offered in The Book People with substantial discount at £9.99. It is hardback with a dust jacket. The hard cover is bottle green with gold embossed writing. 'Winnie The Pooh, The COmplete Collection of Stories and Poems, AA Milne with Illustrations by E H Shepherd.' The simple illustration is the back view of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin skipping off in to the hills! The spine is illustrated in the same way.

The dust jacket is illustrated with the map famous in connection with Winnie The Pooh, of Hundred Acre Wood. Again the title is embossed in gold.

The inside page is autographed by all the main characters, Eor, Triggr, Kanga, Rabbit, Wol, Piglit, Pooh, Christopher Robin. It shows the silhouettes of the characters too, skippping across the countryside. Again in the very elegant green.

The colour illustrations begin almost immediately, with Christopher Robin, Pooh Eyore and Piglet catching Tigger in a blanket as he falls from a tree.

Page 4 gives all publishers information. The first book of the series, Now we are six, first published in 1927, When We were very Young, 1924, The House at Pooh Corner, 1928, Winnie The Pooh, 1926. My particular copy was published in 1994.

Contents

Winnie The Pooh

The House At Pooh Corner

When We were very Young

Now we are six

A total of 432 pages.

Before the first book begins, there is a dedication to HER, it doesnt say who she is, but i
t is truly lovely.

To Her

Hand In Hand we come, Christopher Robin and I
To lay this book in your lap. Say you're surprised? Say you like it? Says it's just what you wanted? Because it's yours - Because we love you.

WINNIE THE POOH
This book contains all of the famous stories that everyone knows, or maybe not!!

1 Winnie The Pooh and some Bees
2 Pooh in a tight place
3 Pooh and Piglet nearly catch a woozle
4 Eeyore looses his tail
5 Piglet finds a Heffalump
6 Eeyores birthday
7 Kanga and Roo come to the Forest
8 Chritopher Robin goes to the North Pole
9 The Flood
10 Poohs party and Goodbye

Im sorry for not writing the proper chapter titles but they tend be rather long!!

Each page is beautifully illustrated. The pictures folow the story along the pages, ie, Bees chase Pooh Bear over several pages, while he drifts on his blue balloon.

At the end of the first book, there is a 'Contradiction', rather than an 'Introduction. Because we are saying goodbye to people we have just met, which is the opposite to an introduction,

'So this is the opposite. When we asked Pooh what the opposite of an Introduction was, he said " The What of a What?" which didnt help us much..... Owl kept his head and told us that the Opposite of an Introduction was a Contradiction;'

THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
The second book isThe House at Pooh Corner.

1 Eeyores House
2 Tigger has breakfast
3 Piglet nearly meets the Heffalump again
4 Tiggers dont climb trees
5 Rabbits busy day
6 Pooh Sticks
7 Tigger is unbounced
8 Piglet does a very grand thing
9 Eeyore and the Wolery
10 Good bye Again

The first chapter contains my favourite litle rhyme of this book and its perfect for this time of year,

"The more it snows (Tiddely Pom), The more it goes (Tiddely Pom), The more it g
oes (Tiddely Pom), On Snowing. And nobody knows (Tiddely Pom) how cold my toes (Tiddely Pom) Are growing. "

"Pooh, said Piglet solemnly, ' it isnt the toes so much as the ears"

At the end of this second book is a dedication to Christopeher Robin Himself,

'To Christopher Robin Milne, OR AS HE PREFERS TO CALL HIMSELF, BILLY MOON, This book which owes so much to him is now humbly offered.

I am constantly touched by the true feeling put into these works. This dedication is illustrated by a picture of a young Christopher Robin seated on the stairs, hands clasped in his lap. Quite beautiful!

WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG
Next we have WHen We were very Young, a collection of poems. Again A A Mione thanks all those who aided his work, Christopher Robin and Mr Shepherd. There is a contents page for this book but it is very long. I will list a couple of more famous poems to give you the idea.

Buckingham Palace, The Christening, Four Friends, Daffadowndilly, Disobedience, The Kings Breakfast, If I were King.

'Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair I sit.
There isn't any stair
Quite like.
It.
I'm not at the bottom.
I'm not at the top;
So, this is the stair
Where I always stop.'

(If you think my punctuation and grammar are bad, I d like to note that these are quotes!)

The odd poem in this collection do introduce WInnie the Pooh and the illustrations show him too. As beautiful as ever.

The next dedication is to Anne Harlington, ' Now she is seven and because she is SPESHAL'

NOW WE ARE SIX
' Pooh wants to say that he thought it was a different book; and he hopes you won't mind, but he walked through it one day, looking for his friend Piglet, and sat down on some of the pages by mistake'

Maybe the most unknown book of poems of the set. COntains poems such as; Furry Bear, The Cradle
Song, In The Dark, The End.

Pooh Bear seems to feature more frequently in the illustrations of these poems. My favourite poem is 'Us Two'. Unfortunately it is too long to share with you. Here is a very small snippet;

'What would I do?' I said to Pooh,
'If it wasnt for you,' and Pooh said: True,
It isnt much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together,' says Pooh, says he,
'Thats how it is' says Pooh.

The book ends with a very clever little poem which captures the whole spirit of little people!

When I was One, I had just begun.
When I was Two, I was nearly new.
When I was Three, I was hardly me.
When I was Four, I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I am as clever as clever.
So I think I ll be Six for ever and ever!

THE END.

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