When We Were Very Young - Hardcover

A.A. Milne; Ernest H. Shepard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0416264700 ISBN 13: 9780416264708

Publisher: Menthuen Children's Books, London, 1989

Synopsis

“They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace – Christopher Robin went down with Alice.”Curl up with A.A.Milne’s classic book of poetry for children, When We Were Very Young. This is the first volume of rhymes written especially for children by Milne – as popular now as when they were first written.This collection is a heart-warming and funny introduction to children’s poetry, offering the same sense of humour, imagination and whimsy that we’ve come to expect from Milne's favourite books about Winnie-the-Pooh, that Bear of Very Little Brain.This book is all the more special due to E.H.Shepard’s decorations, which are shown in full, glorious colour. They are truly iconic and contributed to him being known as ‘the man who drew Pooh’.Do you own all the classic Pooh titles?Winnie-the-PoohThe House at Pooh CornerWhen We Were Very YoungNow We Are SixReturn to the Hundred Acre WoodThe Best Bear in All the WorldOnce There Was a BearThe nation’s favourite teddy bear has been delighting generations of children for over 95 years. Milne’s classic children’s stories – featuring Piglet, Eeyore, Christopher Robin and, of course, Pooh himself – are gently humorous while teaching lessons about friendship and kindness.Pooh ranks alongside other beloved character such as Paddington Bear, and Peter Rabbit as an essential part of our literary heritage. Whether you’re 5 or 55, Pooh is the bear for all ages.

About this title

Review

In all likelihood, your mother or father read you these poems and remember their parents reading the same. This collection of poetry by the creator of Winnie the Pooh was first published in 1924. With its companion volume Now We Are Six, the little books became two of the biggest bestsellers in publishing history. Children all over the world have heard about changing the guard at Buckingham Palace; James James Morrison Morrison Weather by George Dupree; the three little foxes who kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes; and, of course, Christopher Robin, named for A.A. Milne's son. Adults and older children will enjoy Milne's poems too, as some of his humor is subtly directed at a more sophisticated audience. But younger children are the ones who love the naughty Mary Jane (lovely rice pudding again?) and the bears on the corners of London's streets. Read these poems aloud and pass along (or start) a family tradition. (Ages 5 to 9)

About the Author

A.A. Milne grew up in a school - his parents ran Henley House in Kilburn, for young boys - but never intended to be a children's writer. Pooh he saw as a pleasant sideline to his main career as a playwright and regular scribe for the satirical literary magazine, Punch. Writing was very much the dominant feature of A.A. (Alan Alexander)'s life. He joined the staff of Punch in 1906, and became Assistant Editor. In the course of two decades he fought in the First World War, wrote some 18 plays and three novels, and fathered a son, Christopher Robin Milne, in 1920 (although he described the baby as being more his wife's work than his own!). Observations of little Christopher led Milne to produce a book of children's poetry, When We Were Very Young, in 1924, and in 1926 the seminal Winnie-the-Pooh. More poems followed in Now We Are Six (1927) and Pooh returned in The House at Pooh Corner (1928). After that, in spite of enthusiastic demand, Milne declined to write any more children's stories as he felt that, with his son growing up, they would now only be copies based on a memory. In one way, Christopher Robin turned out to be more famous than his father, though he became uncomfortable with his fame as he got older, preferring to avoid the literary limelight and run a bookshop in Dartmouth. Nevertheless, he published three volumes of his reminiscences before his death in 1996.

Edition details

• Publisher: Menthuen Children's Books, London
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0416264700
• ISBN 13: 9780416264708
• Binding: Hardcover