The least successful of three attempts to recapture the magic of A. A. Milne's prose in juvenile chapter books that I've read in recent weeks. (See also: Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There Was a Bear - Tales of Before it all Began . . . and The Best Bear in All the World.)

The author's outlook on the characters has them too often sour and dour, and he misguidedly attempts to introduce a sexualized character into the mix.

Chapter One. in which Christopher Robin Returns

It's summer, and the friends in the Hundred-Acre Wood are excited by a rumor that Christopher Robin is coming home from boarding school. Party time!

Chapter Two. in which Owl Does a crossword and a Spelling Bee is held

Owl's a bit grumpier in this book, and it's going to get worse. This chapter is also notable for the creepy return of Christopher Robin's infamous "blue braces."

Chapter Three. in which Rabbit organizes almost everything

Rabbit decides to do a census of the Hundred-Acre Wood, so we get to meet Grandad Buck and more of Rabbit's friends and relations.

Chapter Four. in which it stops raining for ever and something slinky comes out of the river

This author has decided that Winnie the Pooh needs a Jessica Rabbit figure to be the whore to Kanga's matron. So an otter named Lottie who wears a pearl necklace slinks onto the scene. Ummmm . . . no. No, no, NO!

And there's a drought, so we show Christopher Robin and the friends playing around with an old, abandoned well with rotten wood in order to get some water? No, no, NO, we do not show children how much fun old abandoned wells are. This author is an idiot.

Chapter Five. in which Pooh goes in search of honey

Pooh's usual source of honey dries up when the bees in a nearby hive swarm out of it in search of a new home. It's nice that the author wants to introduce a little bee science, but he doesn't do it very well, especially when Pooh tries to lure them back to the hive they've just abandoned for some unspecified reason. (Perhaps the earlier drought?)

Chapter Six. in which Owl becomes an author and then unbecomes one

Owl strikes Roo at the start of the chapter, and the author expects readers to be okay with that assault because Owl is suffering from writer's block. Maybe social services needs to make a home visit to check on David Benedictus' family. He has proven himself quite the ass at the very least.

Chapter Seven. in which Lottie starts an Academy and everybody learns something

The friends play at an awful version of school, with the unfortunate Lottie character front and center.

Chapter Eight. in which we are introduced to the game of cricket

Not even Pooh can make me care about cricket.

Chapter Nine. in which Tigger dreams of Africa

Tigger falls into a food coma and goes all Rachel Dolezal, dreaming of his African heritage when tigers are actually from Asia.

Chapter Ten. in which a Harvest Festival is held in the Forest and Christopher Robin springs a surprise

Christopher Robin uses the cover of the festival to slip off to boarding school again. Summer's over, and the toys are on their own again. Will he ever return? Or has this all been a prequel to Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey?

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Exposition -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter One. in which Christopher Robin Returns -- Chapter Two. in which Owl Does a crossword and a Spelling Bee is held -- Chapter Three. in which Rabbit organizes almost everything -- Chapter Four. in which it stops raining for ever and something slinky comes out of the river -- Chapter Five. in which Pooh goes in search of honey -- Chapter Six. in which Owl becomes an author and then unbecomes one -- Chapter Seven. in which Lottie starts an Academy and everybody learns something -- Chapter Eight. in which we are introduced to the game of cricket -- Chapter Nine. in which Tigger dreams of Africa -- Chapter Ten. in which a Harvest Festival is held in the Forest and Christopher Robin springs a surprise

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... ) ( )

This was an interesting attempt to recapture the magic of the [author: A.A. Milne] classics. I went into it with an open mind, but almost immediately couldn't help but be struck by the stark differences in the writing styles. [author: David Benedictus] nearly hits the mark from time to time in his writing, but more often makes the characters a bit too aggressive, or a bit too overbearing and the result is an odd sort of shadow of the original that never entirely hits the moralistic nearly philosophical stance of Pooh.

One of the biggest problems with the book, for me, was the introduction of Lottie the otter. While adding a new character is not a bad idea - Tigger was new in the second book, after all - Lottie quickly becomes the star of the show. Lottie can do no wrong, and comes off as rather snobbish and with little to temper that character. Too often the characters are in awe of her, and then take a backseat to her; instead of it being the characters learning to deal with Lottie, it's 'isn't Lottie wonderful'? Additionally, Lottie isn't Christopher Robin's, but rather an actual otter... which destroys too much of the liminal space that Pooh is meant to occupy.

There were aspects of the book I enjoyed, foremost of which was the ending. Some of the stories hit the mark rather nicely, and I am by no means against the idea of people further contributing to the Pooh canon. Personally, I just feel that books such as [book: The Tao of Pooh] and [book: The Te of Piglet] better captured the spirit of the original and the attraction of simplicity. Nevertheless, this will certainly be a book that children love and the illustrations are wonderful. ( )

My favorite of the Winnie the Pooh series. ( )

David Benedictus and Mark Burgess (and the Pooh Trustees and Dutton) did a wonderful job of recapturing the magic of A.A. Milne and Ernest H. Shepard. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the stories and Lottie is great addition to the cast of characters. And, the book itself is beautifully made. Very special indeed. ( )

Wasn't sure about this, there are some things that are sacrosanct and Pooh seemed to me to be one of them.



But it actually was better than expected. It is set during the summer holiday when CR has come home from school and has the air of those lazy days of summer childhod. Initially I thought it was trying too hard to be cute, but that sensation went away fairly quickly. The introduction of a new character allows him to be different from the original and cover new ground.



I wont spoil the ending, but it had the same effect on this soppy reader that the final paragraphs of the original Pooh books did.



The illustrations are easily the best thing about this - they are true to the Shepard drawings and have avoided the horrid things that Disney has done to Pooh and his friends.



Wasn't sure, but am now convinced and have, most reluctantly, had to wrap this copy up - bought as a present so had to finish it quite quickly! ( )