Illustrations by Mark Burgess. With the approval and support of the Trustees of the Pooh Properties Trust and in which Winne-the-Pooh enjoys further adventures with Christopher Robin and his friends. I opened this one with some trepidation. It’s very hard to read a book which attempts to pick up and carry on another’s legacy, especially one so beloved by so many readers since their childhood- like mine. I was pleasantly surprised. The writing style and character of the stories felt very close to the original, same with the illustrations. Christopher Robin did look a bit different- but then he’s supposed to be older now- and I often felt that Pooh’s legs were a bit too scrawny, and that Roo looked rather like a stretched-out flying squirrel, but other than that it all charmed me. I just enjoyed it and forgot to be too critical. I didn’t even mind that it introduced a new character (a female otter named Lottie, just as full of herself as Owl and Rabbit, but in a different way). It’s been many years since I’ve read the originals, or I’d probably hold this to a stricter standard. (Having read some other reader’s reviews since I wrote this, I cringe a bit now. Lots of people pointed out many nuances that weren’t at all like the original characters, and I can’t believe I didn’t notice those flaws. Yikes. Now I wonder if I’ll enjoy this if I do read it a second time round, having had those things brought to my attention).
The stories are thus- a rumor goes about that Christopher Robin is back (visiting, home from boarding school) and they all throw him a welcome party. Owl struggles over a crossword puzzle but is too proud to ask for help. Robin suggests they hold a spelling bee and Owl is the quizmaster- they start off with quite difficult words, start to get muddled, and then stop because it rains. Rabbit decides to organize a census but almost nobody cooperates because they haven’t any idea what he’s doing or why. He wants to count all his relatives so invites them with offerings of refreshments, but there’s too many rabbits, nobody wants the carrots (they all prefer shortbread) and they cause havoc in his house. There is a drought. The otter appears and is anxious to help them find water- a well is located and when the bucket doesn’t function properly, little Piglet is the brave one sent down to investigate. Afterwards he’s disappointed not to be more prominently featured in Pooh’s rhyme about the whole affair. Then the bee tree is found to be empty- which Pooh discovers when he nearly runs out of honey. Alarmed, they go looking for the bees- Eeyore suggests they may have swarmed, Lottie recommends they coax the bees back with flowers, but it’s Pooh who finally succeeds in leading the bees back home. Owl decides to write a book about his uncle, and doesn’t come out of his house for days. Friends knocking at the doors and windows are rebuffed and ignored. So the animals get up to some strange shenanigans to make owl give up writing (my least favorite of the stories). Lottie declares that many of the forest animals are “uncouth” and need educating. They set up a school with herself, Owl, Rabbit and Kanga teaching the others. It was a nice effort, but . . . fell flat. Same with the next chapter, all about a game of cricket (I don’t know the sport but it seems similar to baseball – a precursor?) Tigger eats too many blackberries, gets slightly ill and imagines that he misses his homeland of Africa. His friends try to recreate what they think an African jungle looks like for him, only to realize later that tigers aren’t from that part of the world at all. The animals have a harvest festival, and they sadly learn that Christopher Robin is leaving again- but he will always be their friend.
