A. Milne with his son Christopher Robin and the original Pooh Bear
“Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name of Sanders.”
One hundred years ago, A. A. Milne published a whimsical short story called “The Wrong Sort of Bees,” introducing the world to a “bear of very little brain” called Winnie-the-Pooh. At the time, Milne had already established himself as a successful humorist, playwright, and novelist, whose works included a groundbreaking whodunnit called The Red House Mystery.
“I suppose that every one of us hopes secretly for immortality,” Milne admitted at the time, but nothing could have prepared him for the thunderclap of fame that followed the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. These books, together with his two collections of children’s verse, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, established Milne as one of the most beloved and bestselling authors of all time.
For Milne, it proved a mixed blessing, and he came to resent that his reputation as a writer of “whimsy” had overshadowed his other efforts. “That loathsome adjective,” he complained. “I can’t even define whimsical.” But a century later, generations of young readers remain captivated by the doings of Pooh, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Kanga, Tigger, and Piglet. And somewhere at the top of the forest in the Hundred Acre Wood, a little boy and his bear will always be playing.
Celebrate the centenary of Winnie-the-Pooh as author Daniel Stashower delves into Alan Alexander Milne’s life and legacy and actor Scott Sedar brings some of the author’s most beloved works to life.
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