We finished Winnie The Pooh tonight! The book that is. It’s one of my favorite children’s books. My family members who read this blog know my fondness for stuffed animals - heck maybe the blog mascot gave that away. But the Winnie the Pooh books have been a big inspiration to me in my storytelling for the boys (all 4 of them). I love that Kai and Shen are old enough now to start listening to these beginner “chapter books”.

I was always passionate about emphasizing the original source material for Disney films our older boys like, and the Winnie the Pooh films are ones that Kai and Shen have watched quite a bit now. They have lots of the stuffed animals: Pooh, piglet, Eyore, and Tigger. So I was eager to have them experience the REAL Winnie The Pooh.

It’s not the easiest book to read to kids due to it’s age (written in 1926) and it’s Brittish. But even given that, the writing is in such a peculiar style. Milne writes the book very much as though it is just for Christopher Robin. The rest of us readers and listeners are enjoying a bit of voyeurism as we get to peek in on their father/son exchanges. The beginning and ending of the book are not truly part of the story but rather a transcript of Christopher Robin and his father talking to one another. The shift out of this, and back into it at the end are abrupt and almost jarring when reading the book aloud - again emphasizing the personal aspect of it.

I know Kai and Shen don’t pick up on any of this, and much of the language in the book goes right over their heads, but they know all the characters and some of the stories, and they just like the cuddle time in bed hearing the story being read. And for me, that is the best part too.