Winnie the Pooh
„Winnie-the-Pooh” is a funny, witty and intelligent children’s book that will enchant children and adults alike. A classic children’s book about a loving bear and his friends
11. February 2024
Winnie-the-Pooh
11. FEB. 2024 I 1001kinderbuch
Author: Alan Alexander Milne; Illustration: Ernest H. Shepard; Translation: Harry Rowohlt; Publisher: Farshore; Age recommendation: 6+; Year published: 1926; Year of issue: 2009; Pages: 336 pages; Binding: hardcover; Available from: English Edition (Amazon) and German Edition: Amazon, Genialokal und Orell Füssli (affiliate Links)
„Winnie-the-Pooh” is a funny, witty and intelligent children’s book that will enchant children and adults alike. A classic children’s book about a loving bear and his friends
In “Winnie-the-Pooh”, the story of the animals of the Hundred Acre Wood is told: Pooh, the loving and poetic teddy bear, Piglet, the little pig who wants to be brave but isn’t, Rabbit, the pragmatic and efficient messenger and organiser, Eeyore, the melancholy and profound donkey, Tigger, the energetic and enthusiastic tiger, Owl, the inquisitive and clever teacher, Kangaroo, the compassionate and responsible kangaroo mother and Roo, her playful little son.
What all these animals have in common is that they actually come from Christopher Robin’s nursery, a little boy who is often the hero of the story and whose father tells the stories.
“Winnie-the-Pooh” is characterised by many things: The seriousness with which even sad situations are told, the astuteness with which the (often somewhat confused) thought processes of all those involved are analysed, and the compassion that is shown towards all the characters’ weaknesses.
„That’s not the way to talk to anybody who can spell TUESDAY.“
You think you’re reading a children’s book, but this is exactly the kind of conversation that could also take place at a work meeting between particularly clever people, or people who think they’re clever… As an adult, you can easily feel caught out when reading it…
The nice thing about Milne is that he doesn’t expose the people involved, even though they so often make themselves look ridiculous in their endeavours and desires. Milne shows why people make fools of themselves, reveals their fears, worries and weaknesses. As a result, everyone begins to understand. You look at the characters with compassion, hope and love and wish them the best, even if at the same time you can see that the path they have chosen is perhaps not the best…
Each animal figure thus develops its own depth of character and sharpness.
Piglet wants so much to be brave, but can’t manage it. The fear that his friends might recognise this makes him almost despair. And then Milne creates these wonderful moments when Piglet can be brave and others admire him for it. And everyone (including readers both young and old) is relieved. Ferkel’s fear reminds us a little of little Uli from Kästner’s “The Flying Classroom”, who jumps onto the ice rink from a height of five metres to prove to everyone that he is brave after all. His teacher Justus sympathetically tells Uli’s classmates, who are dejected because they didn’t stop him from making the dangerous jump, that the concussion is probably better for Uli than the worry of not being “taken seriously” for the rest of his life because of his fear. Piglet is in the same predicament and, like little Uli, he has great friends who support him.
Eeyore is a very special character, as the theme of depression or melancholy is thematised early on (first edition in 1926) in a children’s book. Each character takes a different approach. Some lecture, give advice, others listen. But it is clear to everyone that Eeyore belongs, even if he often views his friends’ adventures with detached scepticism.
In Ernest H. Shepard, Milne has found an illustrator who manages to capture the humour and wisdom of the text in a subtle and emphatic way. In their creativity and subtle compassion, his illustrations are like Milne’s words turned into pictures, so congenially do the two artists enrich each other.
„Winnie-the-Pooh” is a very compassionate, subtle and clever children’s book that contains a lot of morals, because you learn a lot about (human) behaviour without being moralistic. It will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2026. It is almost unbelievable how Milne and Shepard have managed to write a children’s book that speaks to its readers then and now with such ease and grace that it seems to have fallen out of time.
A.A. Milne’s “Pooh the Bear” is available from: English Edition: (Amazon) German Edition: Amazon, Genialokal und Orell Füssli (affiliate Links).
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