The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh [Hardcover]

A. A. Milne (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Pooh

Presents a comprehensive, unabridged collection of Winnie-the-Pooh stories, accompanied by Shepard's original full-color illustrations, as well as headbands and ribbon markers, colorful bookplate, and biographies of the author and illustrator.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Christopher Robin asks Pooh what he likes doing best in the world, Pooh says, after much thought, "What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing."

Happy readers for over 70 years couldn't agree more. Pooh's status as a "Bear of Very Little Brain" belies his profoundly eternal wisdom in the ways of the world. To many, Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and the others are as familiar and important as their own family members. A.A. Milne's classics, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, are brought together in this beautiful edition, complete and unabridged, with recolored illustrations by Milne's creative counterpart, Ernest H. Shepard. Join Pooh and the gang as they meet a Heffalump, help get Pooh unstuck from Rabbit's doorway, (re)build a house for Eeyore, and try to unbounce Tigger. A childhood is simply not complete without full participation in all of Pooh's adventures. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525457232
• ISBN-13: 978-0525457237
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Story Collections
  • #31 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Activities & Toys
  • #36 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Bears

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My very most favorite book, since I was three!, October 18, 1999

By 

. "Adelie" (Grass Valley, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh (Hardcover)

My mother introduced me to Edward Bear, Pooh and Co., shortly after a friend gave me a stuffed Pooh, complete with peach-fuzz pelt, little red sweater, and muffler, when I was three. Within weeks, I had memorized most of the poems in the two collateral books ("Now We Are Six," "When We Were Very Young") and all of the Hums... "The more it rains, Tiddly-Pom..." Our family alarm soon became "Tut! Tut! It looks like rain!" And our birthday wishes became "Hipy Papy Bth...." and remain so to this day.

My stuffed Pooh went everywhere with me, including college and Florida for Spring Break, and to this day, more than 50 years later, resides - what's left of him - in my dresser drawer. I can still recite many of the poems and hums by heart, and my standard baby shower gift, a hardcover library of the children's classics, always includes all four volumes.

I can't think of a better, gentler, more fun way to introduce children to the wonders of the imagination, reading, verse, wit, language... you name it. I still have my original four hardcover books and haul them out every so often for a refresher.

These books have stood the test of time for all ages of readers, in spite of Disney's disgraceful attempt to co-opt and cutesify them - truly the definition of classic. Indulge yourself and the children in your life - you won't regret it.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leaving the Hundred Acre Wood, August 14, 2010

By 

Charles "research physician & father of 3 sons" (Daphne, AL, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh (Hardcover)

Yesterday, I dropped off my oldest son at his dorm room.

Yep, my first of three sons, Trey, left the "fort" (what we call our house). Some of my favorite memories are of our bedtime ritual where I would read to he and his brothers. Then I would strum guitar and we would sing songs. Back then, he was so innocent that he and his brothers thought that I could carry a tune, which I cannot; but I sang anyway. Then I'd strum a lullaby or two before going back to my work (they seldom stayed awake for a third).

There was no mother there. I'd read my medical journals, wash their school uniforms to be ready for the next day, and (here's a secret) sometimes I would read, alone, while my sons slept, more of the adventures of Christopher Robin before putting the book back on the shelf, taking a last peek at my sons, and then going to bed.

Remembering those nights brings me more joy than remembering anything that I ever did at work (and as a former ER physician I have literally saved the lives of hundreds).

One of the most magical of the books we read back then, and my favorite for a younger child, is this version of Pooh. If you only know the "Disneyfied" version, then you don't really know Pooh. Here you hear the beauty, and the rhythm, and the vocabulary of slightly antiquated British English; and you learn a sweeter and deeper understanding of the world of Pooh.

Such precious times are childhood--but not perfect times--not without pain. Children (mine own included) know the pain of divorce, death, and turmoil. But, what better can a parent do than to fight to protect the magic of childhood?

This volume will go far towards both protecting and nurturing that magic.

In the last story of the series, Christopher Robin and Pooh sit and talk about how Christopher will be leaving the Hundred Acre Wood--and not coming back. I'm not sure that I ever made it through that one with a dry eye.

So, yesterday, as I drove away from my son's college dorm, leaving him there to find his place on the globe; as I made my own way home, alone with only my memories and the highway in front of me, I gave thanks for the time he and I spent together in our Fort, there in the middle of his Hundred-Acre-Wood. I remembered the round faces of he and his brothers, which (no matter what the bully did that day) lit with laughter when we read this book and made up melodies to carry the little rhymes the animals would sing.

I drove and I remembered how 10 years ago I would look at the haunting last illustration of the book, Christopher Robin and Pooh saying goodbye, and then would look at my sons (ages 8, 6, and 4). I knew then that one day I would be left behind, like Pooh, and with joy and with pain would say goodbye as each son left to enter the future outside the Wood--a place where the father can never go.

Yesterday, that day came.

Here's a tip: Turn off your stupid iPhone and read this book to your child.

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Pooh is timeless!, June 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh (Hardcover)

This Silly Old Bear is one of the most-beloved characters in children's literature. Many readers are familiar with the updated Disney version of Pooh. I like that Pooh (my kids LOVE him), but I'm a bigger fan of the original Pooh, now over sixty years old and still as silly and lovable as ever. If you haven't read the original tales, you're in for a treat!

Unlike the modern Disney tales, the original Pooh stories aren't vehicles for teaching lessons or imparting values. Instead, the original stories about the adventures of the Bear of Very Little Brain and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood are simply delightful tales about well-meaning, though slightly addle-brained characters. Half the fun of the original Pooh stories is knowing more than the characters, and laughing at the silly situations they create for themselves. The other half of the fun is listening to the wonderful wordplay A.A. Milne uses to tell the tales.

The first chapter, in which Pooh tries to use a balloon to float up to a honey comb and help himself to some honey, introduces Pooh's unique thought processes. He explains his plan to Christopher Robin,

"When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming. Now, if you have a green balloon, they might think you were only part of the tree, and not notice you, and if you have a blue balloon, they might think you were only a part of the sky, and not notice you, and the question is: Which is most likely?"

When Christopher Robin asks if the bees might be suspicious of the bear floating beneath the balloon, Pooh says, "They might or they might not. . . You can never tell with bees. . .I shall try to look like a small black cloud. That will deceive them." This is classic Pooh!

One note for Tigger fans: Tigger doesn't bounce into the Hundred Acre Wood until the second book, The House at Pooh Corner.