Pooh and His Pals Become Cowboys, Pirates and Old-Fashioned Superheroes

Winnie the Pooh and his Hundred-Acre friends generally live very simple lives and go about in the same clothes (or, in most cases, lack thereof) day after day. However, one fun thing about the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is its expansive imaginative scope. Some episodes allow these plush pals to venture into more unconventional territory. In Cowboy Pooh, part of the Playtime series of Winnie the Pooh videos, we see three episodes along these lines, each spoofing a specific genre.

The Good, the Bad and the Tigger - This Western spoof, also included in the video Growing Up With Winnie the Pooh: It's Playtime With Pooh, finds Pooh (Jim Cummings), Piglet (John Fiedler), Rabbit (Ken Sansom) and Tigger (Paul Winchell) in Christopher Robin's (Tim Hoskins) bedroom admiring his elaborate train set. When his mother calls him away, he warns everyone not to play with the train while he's gone, but Tigger can't resist, sparking a lengthy imaginative sequence set in the Old West. Tigger is a train robber, Pooh is his unwitting accomplice, Piglet is the sheriff determined to mete out justice however difficult that may be, Rabbit and Eeyore are his faithful sidekicks and Gopher (Michael Gough) is the grim judge eager to hand down a sentence for a "swinging."

This episode is a lot of fun because of the way it uses Western conventions, from dastardly villains to dusty, half-deserted towns. The score seems Copeland-inspired, and the chase sequences along the rickety railroad tracks prickle with excitement. Lots of fun, too, are the outfits, complete with ten-gallon hats (and one sombrero). Of course, this being Pooh, the story ends gently for all concerned, but some pretty harrowing situations precede the satisfying resolution that includes a lesson in forgiveness and fessing up to wrongdoing.

Pooh Marks the Spot - I wish I'd watched this video a little sooner; I could have included its infectious pirate ditty in my list of nautical songs for Talk Like a Pirate Day in September. "Yo ho, everyone knows a pirate's life is free. Yo ho, wherever we go, pirates is what we'll be!" Catchy. The pirates in question are Captain Piglet, Tigger, Pooh and Gopher, who roam the Hundred-Acre Wood in a magnificent pirate ship on wheels. I don't know who is responsible for the construction of that contraption - though I suspect a collaboration between handyman Gopher and creative Tigger - but I wish I had one. And someplace where I could ramble around in it, of course.

Rabbit does not think so highly of their pirate activities, especially once they start digging up his garden in search of buried treasure, so he concocts a plan to trick them and hopefully curtail their revelry. However, when a trippy dream sequence leaves him with a boatload of guilt, Rabbit wonders if he went too far. Aside from the brief dream, which is frankly pretty creepy, this does not take place in a fantastical setting, but there are pirate costumes aplenty as well as that remarkable ship. The conclusion includes a cute twist that emphasizes the kindness and creativity of these forest friends.

The Masked Offender - I'm pretty sure that I've seen this before, but as Tigger's secret identity, the Masked Offender, is all I remember, I wonder if I encountered it in another episode or perhaps a book. The rest of the story doesn't seem very familiar. In any case, this is another entertaining tale that seems to draw from classic heroes like the Three Musketeers and Robin Hood. Part of the episode occurs within a storybook Christopher Robin is reading, and this is where we find the most elaborate costumes and props, but Tigger doesn't do too badly in coming up with an outfit for himself after the story inspires him to follow suit.

There's humor in Tigger's choice of name, unintentionally changing "Defender" to "Offender," since all of his attempts to "rescue" others only serve to irritate them. Poor Piglet, roped into being his sidekick, doesn't know how to tell Tigger his heroics are not welcome. This is another episode that includes a mean-spirited practical joke orchestrated by Rabbit, but in this case, he doesn't work alone. Owl (Hal Smith) is particularly anxious to put a stop to Tigger's stunts. However, when a true emergency beckons, will a chastened Tigger step up to the plate to finally be a true hero? The storybook portions of this episode are great fun, but it's the intense action sequence involving one of those impossibly steep Hundred-Acre Wood canyons that really makes this episode.

Disney has released Winnie the Pooh Halloween specials before. Cowboy Pooh includes none of those, but the three episodes, taken together, feel Halloweenish because most of the characters spend the majority of their time in costume. Thus, this is a particularly good video for October, but any time of year, it may just inspire a creative playtime costume or two.

Winter White Eeyore Is a Snowy Delight

In my room, I have a sizable collection of plush Winnie the Pooh characters. I bought most of them myself back in the good old days when Erie still had a Disney Store, but I received a few as gifts. One of those was the wintry Eeyore that was given to me by my friend Dan several Christmases ago. I think it is Eeyore's snarky remarks and pragmatic approach to life that make Dan a particular fan of this downcast donkey, but he is unusually cheerful here, and his snowy makeover suits him very well.

I don't think Eeyore was the only character to get a new look for Christmas that year, but because he is naturally bluish-gray anyway, the color scheme is ideal for him. He wears a powder blue sweater with a glittery white snowflake on the front, and upon his head is a matching Santa-style hat with white trim. Instead of his usual thunderhead-colored surface, he is bright white. A Velcro patch on his backside has his tail attached, but it comes on and off, while still being secured to Eeyore by some dark blue thread. The tail also has a blue bow on it, and the pupils in his eyes, as well as his eyebrows, are blue as well.

Obviously, this is a highly stylized Eeyore, and he really makes the most sense for winter. I have another one that has the traditional Eeyore appearance, but in December, this one is just so pretty. He's about nine inches high and nearly as big around; he sits up on his hind legs instead of standing on all fours. Hence, he has a pretty roly-poly appearance, and he's very huggable with that soft material and squishy stuffing. That's good, because Eeyore is a donkey who could really use more than his fair share of hugs.

The major drawback I see to this edition of Eeyore is that it's harder to keep him clean, since any stain is going to stand out against that pristine fur. This Eeyore is probably better for kids who are slightly older and will be more careful about not getting him dirty, though surface washing does help, and if you don't mind a dingy Eeyore it doesn't really matter in any case. Of course, there are no little kids in my house, just one big kid, and I think Winter White Eeyore is grand just the way he is. If you are looking for a cuddly plush pal or a way to add a touch of winter to your decorating scheme, you might just agree with me.

Stopping in the Wood on a Snowy Evening With Pooh and Piglet

Every year, I add at least one or two Winnie the Pooh Hallmark Christmas ornaments to my collection. I usually wait until after Christmas to buy any for myself, but this year I decided to go ahead and splurge on Hello, Snow!, my favorite of the 2011 Pooh ornaments.

This ornament, crafted by Hallmark artist Tracy Larsen, is a magic ornament, and it truly has a magical quality about it even before you activate the light and sound. Pooh, clad in a turquoise scarf and festive Santa hat, is trekking his way through the Hundred-Acre Wood, lantern in one orange paw. The other holds a string, which is attached to a sled on which Piglet, all bundled up in a sea green scarf and hat, is taking an exuberant ride. Pooh obviously does not mind tugging his very best friend along; both of them wear enormous smiles.

Pooh’s ear almost brushes one of the limbs on the stately birch that takes up a good portion of this ornament. They stand on a platform that is flat on the bottom and mostly flat but somewhat lumpy on the top, to give the appearance that they are walking in freshly fallen snow. The front of the round platform reads “So much Christmas wonder to discover!” in blue, with blue snowflakes as accents, and the ground up top is dazzling white and covered with glitter, as are the birch branches.

The tree has five main limbs, each of which has two or three branches forking out. This makes Hello, Snow! an especially delicate ornament, and given how nicely it stands on a shelf, I won’t be taking the chance of one of those branches breaking by hanging it on the tree. However, for those inclined to try it, there is a brass ring on one of the limbs, roughly in the middle of the tree.

Meanwhile, hanging from a branch on each of the limbs is a small plastic snowflake attached with thread. These are cute and covered with glitter. Four of the snowflakes, at least on the one I have, look very similar to each other, while another is quite distinct from them, which makes me wonder why the others aren’t more strongly differentiated. They’re so tiny, though, that you don’t really notice what they look like unless you examine them closely.

Having these tiny dangling objects also makes me reluctant to hang the ornament on the tree, where it would be easier for one of the flakes to come off and get lost. While I love the snowflakes, I’m also enchanted by the cardinal who perches on a branch directly above Pooh’s head and gazes down at him. This handsome red bird stands out particularly well against all the white branches with their occasional black stripes.

I love the little poem printed on the box here. Its eight lines capture the wonder of a wintry landscape combined with the warmth of friendship. I especially love the last three lines of the eight-line poem: “The friends kept gazing at the sky, / So warm with wonder and delight, / they didn’t feel the time slip by.” When you’re a bear of little brain and a plush pig, chances are that you have neither promises to keep nor miles to go before you sleep, so there’s nothing to deter you from stopping in the Wood on a snowy evening.

Once the three button batteries have been inserted in the bottom of the ornament, pressing the small white button directly in front of Piglet will activate the “magic,” which means the lantern lighting up and a lush, flutey orchestration of Let It Snow playing. The music and light goes together; both end at the same time, and the lantern light seems to ebb and flow with the melody. It’s really quite lovely, especially in a darkened room.

I know not everybody finds snow as magical as I do, but on an ornament like this, where its beauty can be enjoyed with no plunging temperatures, it’s easy to get caught up in the enchantment of a winter wonderland, especially in the company of such grand pals as Pooh and Piglet.

Eeyore Gets By With a Little Help From His Friends... Eventually

The Veggie Tales video Are You My Neighbor? includes a Seussian retelling of the story of the Good Samaritan in which a pair of uppity asparaguses sing at length about the fact that they are too busy to help the cucumber who has fallen into a ditch and is begging for their assistance. It’s a moment that is both comical and sad; if they’d take a quick break from rhapsodizing about how much they have to do, they could solve this poor fellow’s predicament in a jiffy.

I thought of this scene as I read Just Be Nice… and Help a Friend!, a Winnie the Pooh Golden book written by Ann Braybrooks and illustrated by Darrell Baker. In this vibrantly colored paperback, vaguely shaped like Eeyore’s head, Eeyore has a vexing problem. The poor gray donkey, always inclined toward gloominess anyway, has once again lost his tail. He searches in every place that he can think of, but his tail is nowhere to be found. What’s a downhearted donkey to do?

Eeyore hits upon a solution. He will ask his friends to help him search. Surely with all of his plush pals on the case, or even just a couple of them, he will be able to locate that tail in no time! There’s just one problem. Everyone he consults is in the midst of a project or activity. Aside from Rabbit, whose cantankerous response to Eeyore is pretty typical, no one is flat-out rude to him. However, nobody thinks that Eeyore finding his tail is a particularly pressing concern, and they make that perfectly clear. All of the major Hundred-Acre Wood characters appear in this book except for Gopher and Christopher Robin, and all of them have some excuse keeping them from hurrying off to help Eeyore with his problem. It’s downright discouraging.

The characters in this book seem like themselves, albeit perhaps a bit more preoccupied than usual. Still, they are preoccupied with the sorts of things I would expect. Pooh is polishing off a jar of honey; Piglet has decided to rearrange his furniture; Tigger, Kanga and Roo are headed for a picnic. Their dismissive behavior is disheartening but more oblivious than mean-spirited. They’re just very wrapped up in their own activities and can’t think about anything else right at the moment. What’s more, they ultimately apologize and offer to help Eeyore search.

Of course, just because someone needs help does not mean that one is obligated to offer assistance. There’s also such a thing as taking advantage of a friend’s willingness to help, and that shouldn’t be encouraged. But all Braybrooks is doing here is showing how much a friend’s help is appreciated during a difficult time. The 24-page story is mostly dialogue-driven, with expressive illustrations capturing the personalities of Eeyore and his friends. While they may not always be as attentive as he would like, they will always rally to cheer up their gloomy pal; after all, that’s what friends are for.

Pooh, Piglet and Tigger Become Cheermeisters in Eeyore, Be Happy!

Every resident of the Hundred-Acre Wood has a defining characteristic or two. For Eeyore, the most prominent trait is gloominess. He can’t seem to help it; he’s just naturally down in the dumps, occupying a similar role to Grumpy Bear in the Care Bears and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. In the Little Golden Book Eeyore, Be Happy!, written by Don Ferguson, Eeyore’s morose ways have begun to grate on some of the others in the Wood. Not only do they want him to be happy out of sheer friendly good will, they want him to stop making dire prognostications that put a damper on everyone else’s day.

The general theme of cheering Eeyore up is one that has permeated many Winnie the Pooh stories, from the classic Milne story about Eeyore’s birthday to A Donkey for a Day, possibly my favorite episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This book is similar in many ways to the latter, with Pooh, Piglet and Tigger each taking a turn at trying to show Eeyore a good time. Christopher Robin is also on board for the afternoon, though he is mostly there to observe; he doesn’t make any direct recommendations to Eeyore about how to cheer himself up.

The tone of the story is fairly comical, as each of the things that the friends suggest is quite physically taxing. Pooh, Tigger and Piglet are feeling pretty energetic from the beginning; their visit to Eeyore is prompted by their annoyance that they refrained from participating in any strenuous activities because Eeyore’s earthquake prediction led them to spend half the day hiding under a bridge. It seems they want to make up for lost time with Eeyore. While Tigger is always energetic and no pastime thrills him more than bouncing, Pooh and Piglet tend to favor quieter hobbies. In this book, however, not only does Tigger send Eeyore on a bouncing spree, Piglet encourages him to take up house painting and Pooh sends him scrambling up an enormous bee-filled tree to collect honey. No wonder Eeyore doesn’t feel very cheered up!

The illustration style in this book is fairly flat, with some shading in the forest backgrounds but not on the characters themselves, who are marked by thick outlines and uniform stretches of color. Probably my favorite picture shows a smiling Christopher Robin crouching next to Eeyore and Tigger, who have blundered into a mud puddle and are sopping wet and covered in brown ooze. The illustrations are vibrant and true to character, and the narrative style is pleasantly direct. The interactive narrator is a feature of many Pooh books, and while this one never speaks to the characters, he does directly address the reader, infusing each page with a gentle storytellerish quality. I especially love this description of Pooh’s favorite game: “Poohsticks is easy. It was invented by Pooh, who isn’t a very complicated bear.”

Eeyore is a creature who likes to be appreciated. Sometimes, however, he also likes to be left alone. Figuring out what type of day he is having can be tricky. In the gently humorous Eeyore, Be Happy!, the donkey’s friends learn that what makes one person happy might not work for another person. Sometimes, a grump just wants to brood. Eeyore appreciates the gesture, but it turns out he kinda likes that invisible raincloud over his head. Hence, this book celebrates individuality, while also lauding the kindness that Pooh and his friends show to the despondent donkey, even if it turns out to be misplaced. Perhaps a more suitable title would be Eeyore, Be Happy – But Only If You Want to Be!

Underground Gopher Steps Into the Light in Winnie the Pooh: Working Together

Gopher is mildly controversial among Winnie the Pooh fans because he is a Disney invention, having been introduced in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree so that there would be a distinctly American character (and an excuse for several meta jokes involving the fact that he’s “not in the book.”) I love Pooh in all forms, but my favorite version and what constitutes my own personal canon is the Saturday morning cartoon The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, in which Gopher (Michael Gough) is a vital part of life in the Hundred-Acre Wood and actually appears in more episodes than Christopher Robin, Kanga, Roo, Owl and even Eeyore. For me, then, this industrious digger with the mild speech impediment has a very important place in Pooh lore, so I was happy to see so much of him in the video Winnie the Pooh: Working Together, part of the Learning collection of videos featuring episodes from the series.

Shovel, Shovel, Toil and Trouble - Gopher is heavily involved in each of the three episodes on this video, but his presence here is most pronounced as he giddily receives a shiny new power shovel he dubs Lucille. There’s a blush-worthy romantic fervor to his actions wherever Lucille is concerned, and in his blind passion, he tears around the Hundred-Acre Wood digging unwanted swimming pools and basements, wreaking havoc with the homes of his friends. Only Piglet (John Fiedler) sympathizes with his plight, but even he begins to think Gopher has gone too far when he comes home to find his house submerged. It’s up to this timid soul to put a stop to Gopher’s shenanigans without hurting his feelings. A great showcase for both Gopher and Piglet.

Tigger’s Shoes - In this episode, Tigger (Paul Winchell) is the one driving everyone, most notably Rabbit (Ken Sansom), up a wall. In an effort to keep him occupied, he challenges Tigger to reach the top of the dizzyingly high Castle Ridge in a single bounce. When Tigger fails to accomplish the task, he begs Rabbit for help training, prompting the persnickety bunny to play a rather mean prank that involves loading down a “special” pair of sneakers with nuts and bolts so Tigger will lose confidence in his own abilities. Gopher’s role here is mostly as advisor to Rabbit as he tries to make him feel guilty for his actions. This is a great episode for fans of Tigger or Rabbit, and the visual spectacle of the towering cliff is truly grand.

Easy Come, Easy Gopher - Once again, Rabbit is irritated, this time because Gopher’s plans for the fabled Ultimate Tunnel of his grandpappy’s dreams interfere with his house. When the opportunity presents itself, he changes Gopher’s schematics, not realizing that Gopher’s tunnel will now disrupt all of the other homes in the Wood. As in the second episode, we eventually have a remorseful Rabbit as he realizes that his meddling has only made the problem worse. Beyond the spirit of togetherness and forgiveness pervading the end of the episode, I love this one because of the brief introduction, via a tall tale, to Gopher’s grandpappy, who actually comes to the Hundred-Acre Wood himself in one of my favorite episodes of the series.

It’s very rare for an episode to incorporate all ten of the primary characters in the series, and in this case, none of the three episodes includes Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Owl or Christopher Robin. While fans of those characters may be disappointed, those who come down on the side of Gopher will be satisfied with this video that emphasizes the importance of forgiveness and compromise.

Different Colors Make the Pooh Playing Card Deck Attractive But Hard to Use

It’s no secret to anyone I know that I am a big fan of Winnie the Pooh. Add that to my fondness for playing cards and it’s little wonder that I have received more than one deck of Winnie the Pooh playing cards over the years. The sturdy deck produced by the United States Playing Card Company comes in an attractive pastel purple box whose front shows a drowsy Pooh Bear happily snoozing in a hammock. A simplified version of this same picture appears on each of the four ace cards.

In terms of image variety, this isn’t the most complex of card decks, since it only uses 13 different pictures, plus pictures of Pooh and Tigger that take up the whole card for the jokers. The ace, jack queen and king each have a thin border with yellow on the left side, pink on the right and either purple or blue on the top and bottom, depending on the suit. Otherwise, the background is white, and that white background is uninterrupted for cards two through ten.

The most unusual thing about this deck of cards is the fact that instead of having black clubs and spades and red hearts and diamonds, it has purple clubs and spades and blue hearts and diamonds. The reason for this is aesthetic, as it goes so nicely with the cheerful color palette used in the pictures themselves, and I do like it from that standpoint. On the other hand, my brain is so used to the established colors that I tend to get a little confused when I play with this deck. It’s not a problem if I’m playing something simple like golf, which allows me to take my time, but if I’m playing a fast-paced game of double solitaire, this is not a deck I prefer to use.

For numbers two through ten, the icons emblematic of that particular suit are featured on the card. For instance, the nine of hearts has nine hearts on it. Hence, there’s not a lot of room for pictures. Out of necessity, only the jack, queen and king can be really large. The hammock picture on the ace doesn’t take up much room because of the large “Disney’s Winnie the Pooh” floating above it. Of Pooh’s jumbo poses, my favorite is probably the one on the queen card, which shows him clutching a bouquet of purple flowers and smiling, eyes closed. However, I also love the jack, on which he stands with his nose tilted upward as a butterfly lands upon it. The king pose is actually identical to the eight aside from the size, which is a bit boring; I would have thought something different could have been done for the final card in the suit.

Among the regular numbers, we have a variety of poses, some more interesting than others. Pooh is alone on seven and eight, whereas he has company on all the other cards, though in the case of three, it seems to be his imagination that Heffalumps and Woozles are peering at him through the mirror. The box for this deck includes an advertisement for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the show that really made me an ardent enthusiast of the Silly Old Bear and his friends, and the style of the pictures reflects that. The pictures are very detailed and cheerful. My favorite is probably two, in which Piglet offers a pot of honey to a kingly Pooh as Tigger, a pot atop his head, stands guard. I also love ten, in which the two friends surprise Pooh with a birthday party. However, I was a little disappointed that only Tigger and Piglet appear in the deck. That leaves out Rabbit and Eeyore, who are usually just as prominent as Piglet and Tigger, as well as the more infrequent Kanga, Roo, Owl, Christopher Robin and Gopher, who isn’t in the books but is at the heart of some of the show’s most memorable episodes.

With seven other major characters unrepresented here, there is plenty of reason to introduce other decks into the mix, which the company has done. Still, this is a very nice deck for those who love Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and the simple pleasures depicted on these cards. Each card is sturdy and smooth, making this an easy deck to use with any number of traditional card games. While I would recommend it primarily for slower-paced games, if you are not so easily addled, you should be able to use it for whatever card game you enjoy most. Card-playing, like most activities, is so much friendlier with Pooh!

Wishing Stars and Pygmy Piglets Make The Wishing Bear a Memorable Pooh Video

Over the years since it was on the air, Disney has released several compilation videos featuring episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The earliest are from the ten-volume Walt Disney Home Video series of which The Wishing Bear is volume two. This video includes just two stories from the series, both of them full-length episodes for a total of about 45 minutes. Both also happen to be among my favorite episodes in the series, so I’m very glad I happened upon this particular volume at the library sale over the summer.

The Wishing Bear - One quiet wintry night, Christopher Robin (Tim Hoskins) takes Pooh (Jim Cummings) up to his favorite spot in the woods and shows him his very own wishing star. After teaching Pooh the “special wishing rhyme,” he tells the bear to close his eyes and make a wish. Of course, Christopher Robin knew he would wish for honey and came prepared. When a delighted Pooh tries to make more wishes on the spot, Christopher Robin warns that too many wishes could wear the star out but promises he can come back tomorrow. The next day, Pooh lets the secret slip to Piglet, Tigger and Rabbit, and after a valiant struggle to remember the rhyme, he leads them to the star, which goes behind a cloud as soon as they leave. When Pooh sees a shooting star immediately afterward, he is convinced that he wore out the star and sets about to grant his friends’ wishes himself.

This is a great episode for several reasons. It shows the powerful bond that exists between Christopher Robin and Pooh. It’s very funny, with Piglet (John Fiedler), Tigger (Paul Winchell) and Rabbit (Ken Sansom) each struggling with specific issues that lead to many complications for Pooh, whose attempts to remember the rhyme earlier in the episode are also quite amusing. He comes up with some very strange lines, my favorite of which is “Flap like an armadillo.” My biggest laugh-aloud moment comes later in the episode when Piglet asks Pooh, who has just been working on a plan to keep the bugs out of Rabbit’s house, about his strange headgear. Scrambling for an explanation that won’t blow his cover, Pooh tells him that its purpose is to keep sharks away, which of course sends Piglet into a panic. Classic!

However, the best thing about this episode is the determination and ingenuity Pooh shows in seeing to it that his friends get their wishes, or at least an approximation of them. It’s an idea that also turned up on the show during a Christmas episode that found Pooh filling in for Santa Claus after failing to get his letter out in time, but the episodes are distinct enough to keep either one from feeling redundant. It just goes to show what a kind and generous bear Pooh is. Even though so much of what he does is driven by the demands of his rumbly tumbly, ultimately his heart takes precedence.

The Piglet Who Would Be King - Like The Wishing Bear, this is a story about being generous to a friend. However, the circumstances are quite different. In this case, after Pooh gives Piglet a spring he finds on the ground as a “friendship gift,” Rabbit and Tigger tell Piglet that he must reciprocate by giving Pooh the grandest gift of honey imaginable. A small pot will not do; he needs something truly extravagant. After their first honey-collecting attempts go awry, Tigger proposes an audacious idea: undertake a quest to the Land of Milk and Honey, where they will find all the honey they could ever want. As before, Piglet uncomfortably goes along with the plan, and once they get there and find it populated by the Pigglies, who look just like Piglet but are half his size, he becomes more and more distressed. They regard him as their rightful king, a job he is reluctant to accept, but Tigger and Rabbit insist he take the job so they can enjoy its perks. As their selfishness escalates, Piglet must find the courage to truly step into his role as ruler.

Now, this is a very strange episode positing that deep in the Hundred-Acre Wood, or just beyond it, lies a secret civilization of pygmy Piglets resting in the shadow of a volcano. Between Piglet’s house and the Land of Milk and Honey, they come across a hysterical hyena, a monkey marching band led by a burly primate in a sharp red suit and a thick Scandinavian accent, and a herd of stampeding pint-sized elephants. It’s weird, all right. But it’s an excellent episode full of adventure. Tigger and Rabbit even sing an original song, Nothing’s Too Good for a Friend, as they drag Piglet through treacherous paths toward the Land of Milk and Honey.

The question is, what are the true qualities of a friend? Tigger and Rabbit spend this entire episode as Piglet’s dueling advisors, united in their desire to force Piglet into procuring an unusually complicated gift but bickering over every detail along the way. Both of them are extremely bossy, and even when their intentions are good, their way of doing things isn’t the best way for Piglet. Hence, this episode is about Piglet learning how to do like Neville Longbottom in the first Harry Potter book and assert himself when he believes they are in the wrong instead of being a pushover. Two excellent quotes come out of this process: “People should do things for friends not because they have to but because they want to” and “Even very small animals must stand up for what’s right.” As Piglet’s timidity is a characteristic to which I can relate far too easily, I find this an inspiring episode.

As always, I wish that it was possible to buy a DVD boxed set of the entire series, but if you’re going to get them piecemeal, I highly recommend this second volume. If you’re wishing for a pair of great Pooh stories, your wish will certainly be granted.

Christopher Robin Faces Some Grown-Up Problems in Winnie the Pooh: Growing Up

When I was a kid, I had a bit of a crush on Christopher Robin. Of course, the idea of Christopher Robin having a crush on anyone seems pretty foreign to the world of Winnie the Pooh. However, in the video Winnie the Pooh: Growing Up, part of the Learning series of videos that use episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to demonstrate simple lessons, it doesn’t seem quite so far out of the realm of possibility. The two episodes on this video both deal with Christopher Robin (Tim Hoskins) maturing, and hints of romance enter the picture in the second episode, though they loom much larger in the minds of his fluffy friends than his own…

Home Is Where the Home Is - In this episode, Christopher Robin’s mom (Patricia Parris) leaves him alone for a few hours with instructions to clean up the house and not to disturb the bust of a very grumpy-looking Great-Grandfather Eustace. Pooh (Jim Cummings), Piglet (John Fiedler), Tigger (Paul Winchell) and Rabbit (Ken Sansom) try to help him tidy up the place Mary Poppins-style, but they end up making an even bigger mess and the statue topples in the process. Afraid to face his mother, he decides to live in the woods, but nobody’s house seems like a good fit and taking the first bus to who-knows-where begins to look like the best option. But is it?

This is a fun group episode which has the above five characters together for a majority of the story. Eeyore (Peter Cullen) turns up a bit later, and while he’s still a sad sack, particularly since his house keeps crumbling on him, he’s more of a sage, dispensing bits of homespun wisdom. While the others try to help their friend run from his problems, he is the one who gently encourages him to return home and face them. A fun but also serious episode about taking personal responsibility for one’s mistakes.

Grown But Not Forgotten - This episode is one of my favorites, in part because it starts out with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Rabbit playing a rousing game of Squishball, an anything-goes, make-up-the-rules-as-you-go-along game that I at one time declared the funnest game in the world. My brother, my neighbor and I used to play our own version, though it was never quite as satisfying as it is in the Hundred-Acre Wood, where there is so much open space and so much oddball equipment and where one of the players – Piglet – keeps getting confused for the ball.

But that’s ultimately a small part of the episode. The bulk of it deals with the quartet’s discovery that Christopher Robin has been invited to a formal party – with (GASP!) girls. He has to dress up, he has to show proper manners and he might even have to dance. At first they try to help him get out of going, but when his mom won’t back down, Rabbit decides to instruct him in the finer points of etiquette and Tigger gives him dance lessons. During a practice tea party, Rabbit sternly demonstrates the correct sipping posture: “Proper gentlemen drink with the pinky extended – like so!” My brother and I have imitated this little demonstration time and again even since we first saw the episode.

While it’s not much longer than the first episode on this video, it feels longer because there’s just so much story stuffed into it. Although Pooh never quite understands what all the worry is about and simply hopes Christopher Robin goes to the party and has fun, the other three, spurred on by a goofy scenario in which Tigger imagines Christopher Robin’s life as an adult with a wife (played by Tigger) and a baby (played by Gopher (Michael Gough)), begin to panic. If they can’t prove themselves sufficiently grown up stat, they are sure to lose his friendship forever. An incredibly sweet and funny episode about the balance between embracing new opportunities and staying true to one’s friends.

As always, I’m a little annoyed at the way that Disney chose to package these. It seems like a money-grubbing move to get people to buy a whole library of videos at ten bucks a pop when you could have a boxed DVD set that would take up a lot less room and ultimately be less expensive. That typical complaint aside, though, I love these two episodes, which complement each other very well, allowing Christopher Robin to do just the tiniest bit of growing up without any fear of his outgrowing his wonderful friends in the Hundred-Acre Wood.

Take a Trip Back to the Hundred-Acre Wood With Winnie the Pooh

When I first heard about Winnie the Pooh, Disney’s sequel to 1977’s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, I immediately realized that it would come out the same weekend as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. How could I choose between the bear I’ve loved all my life and the wizard who took me on a magical literary journey lasting nearly a decade?

I do question the wisdom of Disney releasing Winnie the Pooh on that particular weekend, when any box office revenue would be dwarfed by one of the most anticipated movies in recent memory, but perhaps the thought was that it would fill the niche of children too young for Harry Potter. I was only able to catch one of the movies opening weekend, and I couldn’t resist the allure of Harry, but I caught up with Pooh and his friends this weekend. His adventure is far shorter and simpler, but it’s just as enjoyable in its own breezy way, at least for a lifelong fan like me.

It surprised me to hear Winnie the Pooh described as Pooh’s first time on the big screen since the 1970s. Other Pooh movies have been released in theaters, featuring the same basic look and several of the same cast members as Pooh’s first Disney outing, so I’m not sure why this one is considered so fundamentally different. Then again, it does feel more closely tied with Many Adventures, given the strong presence of the narrator and the frequent interaction with the book in which the stories reside. One scene makes particularly clever use of some letters that tumble into the tale.

There’s nothing revolutionary about this movie. Life in the Hundred-Acre Wood is very simple, with just a few basic problems that plague its residents time and again. Hence, Eeyore losing his tail is familiar territory, as is Owl misreading a note from Christopher Robin and sending everyone into a panic, Piglet facing his fear and Pooh running out of honey. Because of the leisurely pace and the repetitive nature of the stories, my guess is that many adults will find it a bit on the snoozy side despite the mere 70-minute length, and some kids might as well. One family in my showing actually left halfway through. You have to go into this movie with a certain mindset, accepting that its driving events are not going to be very adrenaline-inducing.

The movie reprises a couple of established songs and introduces several others, though most are short and forgettable. The most memorable is a fearsome description of the Backson, the beast that has allegedly kidnapped Christopher Robin. This sequence, accompanied by chalkboard illustrations, has a trippy edge to it reminiscent of the Heffalumps and Woozles sequence in the original film. The characters’ imaginations run away with them as they dream up all the dreadful things this monster does, and the song seems to invite post-movie creativity from children in the audience.

All of the voice actors are expressive and fit into their roles well, but most of the cast is new for this movie, and the differences take some getting used to. Jim Cummings continues to inhabit the role of Pooh perfectly, and he does an admirable job with Tigger as well, but Travis Oates’ voice is distractingly high as Piglet. The tone is about right, but the pitch makes it sound like he’s on helium. He’s been playing Piglet on My Friends Tigger and Pooh and related specials since John Fiedler’s death in 2007, but this is my first encounter with the new Piglet, and he hasn’t quite won me over yet. Tom Kenny takes over for Ken Sansom as Rabbit for the first time, and his voice sounds decidedly off as well. Bud Luckey fares better as despondent Eeyore; aside from sounding a bit too Southern at times, he seems like a good match for Peter Cullen. Wyatt Dean Hall is fittingly spunky as Roo, while Jack Boulter is a more refined but still boyish Christopher Robin, Kristen Anderson-Lopez makes a very maternal Kanga and John Cleese is a predictably fine narrator.

The standout cast member for me, though, is Craig Ferguson, who seems to be having the time of his life as the grandiloquent Owl. Having often watched Ferguson’s rambling monologues on The Late Late Show, I would say that the character is an ideal fit with his style, and I can’t help wondering whether he had the same sort of free improvisational rein that Robin Williams did with Aladdin. Owl similarly steals the show, getting most of the best lines and generally making more of an impression than any other character, even Pooh himself. Ferguson nails the essence of the character, striking a perfect balance of sophistication and silliness whether he’s composing his extensive memoirs or delivering a rousing speech of encouragement to Piglet as he embarks on a rescue mission that Owl could much more easily undertake himself. His insistence on using complicated vocabulary is a running joke throughout the movie as poor muddled Pooh tries to puzzle out his meaning, and I found myself reminded of Trixie Belden scratching her head over the overly complex proclamations of her older brother Mart. I’d love to see those two try to talk each other under the table.

While most of the movie is more likely to elicit a nostalgic smile than a hearty laugh, some scenes are quite funny, and most involve words in some way. Pooh and Eeyore’s misunderstanding of Owl’s use of the word “issue” and a discussion of knots that reminds me of Abbott and Costello’s Who’s On First? routine are a hoot, as is the way everyone’s speech becomes absurdly littered with the word “honey” when the rumbly in Pooh’s tumbly gets to be too much for him to bear. This movie paints Kanga as being easily annoyed by loud noises, which adds to the humor and makes her more prominent than usual. It also seems like a sly nod to the parents in the audience who can probably relate all too well with her desire for a little peace and quiet.

The movie also emphasizes the consideration the characters have for each other. When they believe Christopher Robin to be in danger, everyone steps up to the plate to help. When Eeyore gets left out of the main contingent’s plan to rescue him, Tigger takes him under his wing. Piglet braves the spooky forest and Pooh puts his craving for honey aside for the sake of their friends. That pervasive spirit of camaraderie, even more than the idyllic scenery and the lackadaisical lifestyle, is what makes the thought of a sojourn in the Hundred-Acre Wood so appealing.

Disney tends to reward viewers patient enough to sit through the credits, and that’s certainly the case here. To the tune of a charming new song by Zooey Deschanel, the credits roll, complete with animated tidbits as Pooh and his pals interact with the names scrolling down the screen. There’s even a final funny scene at the very end of the credits that is well worth the short wait.

Before the movie, meanwhile, we’re treated to The Ballad of Nessie, an old-school-style short warmly narrated in rhyme by Billy Connolly. Given Ferguson’s prominence in the movie – albeit with an upper crust British accent rather than his natural Glaswegian accent – I wonder if he was a factor in deciding to pair the film up with this short, which is largely a celebration of stereotypical Scotland. With a rustic, bagpipe-laced score reminiscent of Ashokan Farewell and nods to everything from thistles and tartans to golf and Braveheart, it has great appeal for those who love that country as much as I do. Nessie, with her rosy cheeks, long eyelashes and vaguely Wookiee-like voice, is adorable, as is her rubber duck companion, and the takeaway message is a worthwhile one.

My showing of Winnie the Pooh had an audience of about a dozen, and I doubt that was too atypical. It doesn’t have the same sort of blockbuster draw that Harry Potter or even a typical animated Disney feature does; despite the popularity of Pooh products, most consider the movies themselves to be the realm of the very young. However, if you’re still young at heart and if you ever wished you could blink yourself to the Hundred-Acre Wood for a day, I suspect you will find this outing with Pooh and his friends a pleasant return to beloved company.

Get to Know Winnie the Pooh's Namesake in A Bear Named Winnie

This Friday, the new Disney movie Winnie the Pooh hits theaters, and though I’m not sure how well the tubby little cubby can compete against the final installment of that equally popular British export known as Harry Potter, I know I’m not the only one looking forward to seeing him on the big screen again. In anticipation of that event, I watched A Bear Named Winnie, the 2004 live-action film directed by John Kent Harrison, who wrote it with John Goldsmith based on the true story by Simon Vaughan.

In this movie, set during World War I, we get the story of Lt. Harry Colebourn (Michael Fassbender), a young Canadian soldier in a veterinary corps who rescues an orphaned bear cub and smuggles her aboard the train to training camp. He names her Winnipeg after his hometown and calls her Winnie for short. While his gruff commander, Col. John Barret (Gil Bellows), warns him that he’s going to have to do something about her before they head off to do some real fighting, Winnie quickly grows very attached to Harry, and shaking her off isn’t going to be so easy.

Winnie is the bear after whom Winnie the Pooh is named, and the movie is framed by scenes several years later that show her at the London Zoo, where she is one of the most popular residents. The bulk of the movie deals with her presence at the training camp in Quebec and later in England, after Harry pulls off another smuggling act, this time in a sea chest. His chief accomplices in this endeavor are geeky Ivy League graduate Ian Macray (Jonathon Young) and cheerful goofball Randy Taylor (Aaron Ashmore). As powerful as the bond between Winnie and Henry is, the movie is just as much about the friendship between these young men, particularly Henry and Ian.

Winnie, played by three different bears named Chester, Charlie and Bonkers, is a charming creature, though she is loud and rather disaster-prone. She has a habit of bellowing in moments of distress, and her ingenuity causes problems when she escapes and makes for the mess tent. However, in times of tranquility she is a comfort to those around her, whether she is nuzzling noses with the camp horses or wrapping her furry limbs around Harry in a firm bear hug. There are moments of comedy with her disastrous antics, but the story more often veers toward the heartwarming.

The only member of the cast I recognized was Ashmore, who has so consistently charmed me as Smallville’s fresh-faced Jimmy Olsen. His character here is of a similar disposition, and he adds levity to most of the scenes in which he appears. Young brings an uptight but sympathetic air to Ian, who is sheltered and jittery but very passionate about his veterinary work. The core friendship between Ian and the more outgoing Henry is helpful in getting us to understand the plight of soldiers during this time. The stern but kind presence Bellows brings stands in contrast to the lunacy of the unit’s top commander (David Suchet), a general who is far removed from soldiers’ concerns.

A Bear Named Winnie is mostly a war story, though its PG rating keeps it from becoming too graphic, even as it delves into some of the harsh realities of wartime. It’s a tale of friendship and how bonds forged in trying times can carry the despairing through to happier days. Christopher Robin and A. A. Milne are characters in the movie, and an end-credits note confirms their identities, but this is not really their tale. They have just enough of a screen presence to tie the movie in with the Winnie whose popularity continues a century later. That Winnie remains my favorite of all fictional bears, but it seems the real Winnie had a lot to recommend her as well.

Number 3000: 1001 Tales to Warm Your Mind

Late last year, I realized that I was creeping up on my 3000th post here on Epinions. Because the vast majority of my Epinions writing has been story-related, whether it’s media reviews or media-inspired poetic ramblings, I thought a fitting way to mark that milestone would be with a review of 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, a guide to some of the greatest kids’ books ever published. Moreover, I would sail on a sea of stories until I reached 3000 by hosting a write-off; hopefully it would motivate me to reach my goal by my 30th birthday and introduce me to some terrific tales in the process.

My Tales to Warm Your Mind Write-Off did motivate me, but instead of writing faster, I seemed to slow down, attempting instead to both write and read more deeply. As my three-month-long write-off stretched into six, I felt a more profound sense of community with some of my fellow members and allowed some of their stories to seep into my soul. My little write-off turned into a far more rewarding experience than I expected, so I certainly don’t mind that I missed my birthday by three months. Instead, I’m happy to be able to share a milestone day with my dear cyber-sister Beth, who celebrates eight years on Epinions today and can attest to the power of stories to bring people together.

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up is an impressive but not unwieldy collection of suggestions for the avid reader and the parent of the avid reader. Each featured book has between half a page and two pages to itself, often with an illustration or two. Julia Eccleshare is listed as the general editor, and she is the one responsible for the Introduction, which comments on the children's book as a work of art and as the realm of fiction to which story is most central. She talks about the different considerations that went into compiling this list and notes how the book's format invites contemplation of the changes in style and substance that can be charted over the years. The book descriptions to be found in the 900+ pages to follow come courtesy of more than a hundred different writers, many of whom have published children's books themselves.

Aside from the preface (a charming reflection by illustrator Quentin Blake, best known for his collaborations with Roald Dahl), introduction, indexes and contributor bios, the book is divided into five sections, each of which includes a small color-coded half-circle on a designated spot on the side of the page. This makes it very easy to glance at the book and open to the desired section: red for ages 0-3, orange for 3+, yellow for 5+, green for 8+ and blue for 12+. Within each section, the books are listed in chronological order, which also makes finding things quite a bit easier. If you want to see if a particular book is included, you can consult the index of titles at the beginning of the book; the index of authors at the end is equally handy.

Each entry includes the title in large bold print, followed by the year of publication in smaller print. Below that is the name of the author, indicated by a tiny pen icon, and, if applicable, the illustrator, indicated by a tiny pencil. Below that is a small section whose contents include such info as Original Title, Nationality, Theme, Publisher and Awards. In many cases, the cover of the featured book is included; sometimes an inside illustration is chosen, and some descriptions are accompanied by a pertinent quote. Many of the pages also include a small box the same color as that section's tab listing related books. These may be suggested by virtue of having the same author or similar components. For instance, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island has a pull-out box listing “Other Great Stories of the Sea,” and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories suggests “More Fabulous Folklore”.

The main feature, however, is the book description, which is usually three or four paragraphs in length. Most of the contributors review several books and are identified by their initials at the end of the entry, but about a quarter of the writers are set apart, each reviewing just one book of particular personal significance. In these cases, a small gray tab at the top indicates who the featured reviewer is. These are especially interesting entries, since they delve into the reviewer's personal experience, whereas most books receive a more detached treatment. I love Judy Blume's reflections on Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline, which she adored so deeply as a girl that she hid the copy she had taken out of the library, not wanting to be parted with it. “Some books you never forget,” she says. “Some characters become your friends for life.” This is most assuredly true.

Other authors with reviews of this nature include beloved author-illustrator Eric Carle, most famous for The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Newbery-winning author Jean Craighead George, whose love of nature permeates her work; and Newbery-winning Lois Lowry, whose works offer compelling commentary on the human condition. While these are wonderfully illuminating, especially for fans of that particular author, each entry in the book is well-crafted. Some of them are mostly plot summaries. Others focus upon the unusual characteristics of the illustrations or the way in which certain characters have permeated popular culture. Most entries include some mix of elements, discussing the content of the book, the historical context and the public reaction.

One thing that surprised me about this volume was how many of the books were originally written in a language other than English. This gives the book a very international flavor, and while some recommendations, like Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking and Johanna Spyri's Heidi's Wandering and Learning Years, reside on my bookshelf, I confess that the book highlights many books and authors that are entirely unfamiliar to me. Unfortunately, I have found that translated versions of most of these foreign-language books are difficult to track down, especially the ones for younger readers.

One interesting aspect of this book, which Eccleshare touches on in her introduction, is the way in which its demonstrates how the definition of what constitutes children's literature has changed over the years. Many of the books here, particularly those written prior to the 20th century, were not originally written specifically for children, but they have come to be thought of primarily as children's literature, or at least as appropriate for children as older readers. Examples of this include Aesop's Fables, the oldest entry in the collection; Johann Wyss's The Swiss Family Robinson; Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I was a little surprised at some of the books that were designated as children's lit, particularly in the 12+ section; then again, many of these books are staples of high school reading, so they certainly are appropriate for teenagers even if they were written with more of an adult audience in mind.

The smallest section by far is the 0-3 category, which is only about 40 pages long. Selections in this section include Make Way for Ducklings, the Robert McCloskey classic that inspired a whimsical series of statues that I had the pleasure of seeing up-close in Boston, and that perpetually popular tale of encouragement, Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could. Among the books I sought out as a result of this section are Pat Hutchins' Rosie's Walk, a funny retro tale about an oblivious chicken who unwittingly thwarts a hungry fox, and David McKee's Elmer, a charming story about a multi-colored elephant.

The 3+ section is considerably longer at nearly 120 pages. Here's where we start to meet some of my really formative characters, like Winnie-the-Pooh - though I'll confess I first met the Silly Old Bear through Disney and didn't become well acquainted with the Milne version until years later – and, while we're on the subject of bears, Paddington and the Berenstain Bears. This is also the place to look for the works of childhood staple Dr. Seuss and the brilliantly minimalist Mo Willems. Speaking of minimalism, I have this section to thank for my discovery of Leo Lionni's touching Little Blue and Little Yellow, as well as the urban sprawl saga of Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House.

The 5+ section is longer still at about 200 pages, and some truly wondrous picture books grace this portion of the collection. However, because this is a slightly older age bracket, this is where we start to see chapter books, as well as poetry collections by Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. Some of the giants of Easy Readerdom are here, including Cynthia Rylant and Arnold Lobel. While I would recommend the irresistible Mr. Putter and Tabby over Henry and Mudge, the latter is probably Rylant's most popular series, so I understand its inclusion. I also agree wholeheartedly with Frog and Toad as Lobel's ideal representatives. Few fictional friendships have amused or moved me more. Irrepressible Ramona Quimby, to whom I'm afraid I related quite a bit as a rambunctious young'un, makes an appearance here too. Meanwhile, this section led me to David Shannon's A Bad Case of Stripes and Jen Wojtowicz's The Boy Who Grew Flowers, both of which deal with the struggles inherent in standing out from the crowd in a classroom setting.

The largest section in the book is the 8+ group, which stretches for more than 400 pages. This is where you will find J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the first novel that was ever read to me and the one that furnished my quote to live by: “You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world, after all!” It's the home of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, the book whose eloquent heroine I adored as long as she wasn't wrongly reaming out her admiring classmate Gilbert. This book introduced me to the gentle Matthew Cuthbert, the literary character who reminds me most of my late grandpa, and it taught me the term “kindred spirit,” which instantly joined my lexicon as a phrase to denote a cherished friend whose tastes and temperament are remarkably similar to one's own. Then, of course, there is J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, which took me through college and beyond and solidified several friendships. Moreover, up to that point, the publication of the final volume was perhaps the most significant pop cultural milestone of my life. The Chronicles of Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Bridge to Terabithia, Where the Red Fern Grows and many other novels that riveted me all make the cut here, and many of the books in this section are ones that plenty of adults have read for pleasure on their own.

I'm a little surprised that the 12+ section isn't even longer, since this is essentially the Young Adult portion and so many of the books here are really just adult novels. However, it does seem that as a separate division, the young adult designation is a rather recent phenomenon, so while we're getting plenty of adult crossover, there aren't a lot of books that started out in this niche. Those that do include Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and Louis Sachar's Holes. Considering its length, I didn't expect to find Tolkien's Lord of the Rings listed, but it's here, though the description rather makes me suspect that whoever was assigned this epic never actually read it. (Frodo is described as an “unwilling hero” who saves Middle-earth “by first gaining and then safely returning the magical ring, which makes its bearer all-powerful, to its true home deep in the mountains.” (Ah, yes, that cozy reunion between Sauron and his beloved ring. And oh, the lengths that stubborn scallywag Frodo had to go to in order to gain this treasure in the first place!)

Out of curiosity, before I sat down to write this review, I went through the book and jotted down all of the titles that I had read. Rather to my disgruntlement, it was only one-fifth of the 1001 titles. I still have a lot of catching up to do! Of course, even with all those books, any avid reader will no doubt be able to point out omissions of their own favorites. For instance, the prolific Mercer Mayer, best known for his expansive line of Little Critter books, doesn't show up at all, nor does author-illustrator Jan Brett, notable for her richly artistic folktales with detailed borders around each page. As someone who has happily gobbled up the first 15 books in the Trixie Belden series since January, I'm miffed that while Nancy Drew merits a mention, the Bob-Whites of the Glen do not. However, a majority of the authors whose work I've enjoyed show up somewhere in the book, and if you're stumped for new things to read, this collection can offer some excellent recommendations.

Beloved books come to us in all sorts of different ways, from catching our eye on the shelf of a bookstore or library to being praised by a respected friend. This collection is yet another avenue. If you are looking for some interesting new books for the children in your life, you're sure to find some sterling stories if you peruse the pages of 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. But bear in mind that these books are not exclusively for children. To quote C. S. Lewis, “When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” For readers of all ages who are not embarrassed to get swept away by a powerful story, this guide is a treasure trove.

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I joined Epinions back in January of 2000 while searching for a place to write book reviews online. I was looking for a creative outlet and a bit of cash, and I found both. I wrote eagerly in the beginning, but most of my efforts were rather hurried and haphazard. It took a year or two before I really got the knack of reviewing, and it's a continuing learning process. Gradually coming out of my shell and interacting more with other members beyond just posting my reviews has made Epinions that much more rewarding and motivated me to write more often and more artfully. I've read the work of dozens of talented reviewers and traded comments with many of them; I can't begin to list them all here, but a few members merit a special mention...

Sleeper54 – Thank you, Tom, for all of your considerate comments and emails over the years. The niggles have improved plenty of reviews, and the compliments are deeply appreciated.

Jedikermit – Thank you, Quinn, for being my go-to person for all things Muppet.

Dragonfire88 – Thank you, Marie, for so many great geeky comment exchanges.

GaelKM – Thank you, Gael, for basking with me in the love of all things Irish.

Mql1208 – Thank you, Megan, for your invigorating thoughts on some of my favorite off-beat movies.

Popsrocks – Thank you, Phil, for your omnipresent optimism even in the most challenging circumstances.

Talyseon – Thank you, Mark, for pouring such passion into everything you undertake.

Toiletoctopus – Thank you, Mike, for your inspiring example of how to carry on a loved one's legacy.

Texas-Swede – Thank you, Thomas, fellow Swedish American, for your consistent courtesy and enthusiasm.

Bethesdalily – Thank you, Nicole, for the sense of joy and serenity that envelops me when I read your reviews and comments. With the eyes of your soul, you see the world more clearly than most people I know.

Imagine_Stars – Thank you, Shar, for the feast of words I've come to expect whenever I read your reviews. You write with such conviction and humor, and your comments are among the most thoughtful I've ever received.

Carstairs38 – Thank you, Mark, for just being you. You are a true kindred spirit whose warmth and wit have brightened many a day, and my life is so much richer because I know you.

Befus - Thank you, Beth, for being the best "big sis" a gal could ask for. You bring out the best in me as a writer and a person, and I feel blessed to call you my friend.

Since this review signals the conclusion of my Tales to Warm Your Mind Write-Off, I would also like to take a moment to thank everyone who participated, especially Mark and Thomas, who contributed so prolifically. I am also grateful to the Category Leads, especially Book Leads Dramastef and Pestyside, for being so helpful in adding titles. And since I am, to the best of my knowledge, the fourth person to reach 3000 posts on Epinions, I also have to thank Freak369, Bryan_Carey and Wlswarts for proving to me that it could be done.

Like many people across the country, I have spent the past several months bombarded with billboards announcing that the world will end today. Clearly, I didn't buy it, or I wouldn't be urging you to add several hundred books to your must-read list. So instead, I celebrate an ending of a different kind, concluding my write-off with the thought of how many wonderful stories lie in store for me and the hope that I might write a tale or two to warm someone else's mind. In the words of the enchanting Pushing Daisies, “Endings, as it is known, are where we begin.” Onward to 4000!

Pranks, Trains, Bubbles and Squishballs Are on the Loose in Playtime With Pooh

When I was growing up, I couldn’t get enough of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the animated series that ran from the late 80s to the early 90s and gave Pooh and his pals a distinctly American feel. Though the series was never released in complete seasons, several compilation DVDs feature episodes that are thematically related. Playtime With Pooh all have to do with the Hundred-Acre Wood gang getting into some imaginative mischief and features great voice work by Jim Cummings as Pooh, Paul Winchell as Tigger, John Fiedler as Piglet, Ken Sansom as Rabbit, Michael Gough as Gopher, Peter Cullen as Eeyore and Tim Hoskins as Christopher Robin.

April Pooh - Something is amiss with the pot of honey in Pooh’s pantry. It’s too sticky, even for honey; it feels more like glue. Christopher Robin explains that it’s April Fool’s Day, so he’ll have to be on the lookout for pranks. Pooh isn’t sure he likes this idea much, so he wanders through the wood to see if his friends have been pranked and whether this April Fool is someone they should be nervous about. A cute episode with some creative tricks, my favorite of which involves fooling Piglet into thinking that his house is underwater.

The Good, the Bad and the Tigger - A tribute to westerns. Christopher Robin invites his stuffed pals over to his house to check out his new train set. All are intrigued, but Tigger is the most impressed. In fact, he can’t wait to get his paws on those controls. But Christopher Robin warns Tigger before his mother calls him away for a few minutes not to try to operate the train while he’s gone. Tigger disobeys, leading to a fun fantasy sequence in which Sherriff Piglet must decide whether to lay down the law and deliver train-napping Tigger and his unwitting accomplice Pooh into the hands of the grim Gopher and his ominous tire swing. It’s always fun to see Pooh and his friends in totally different surroundings, and the tweaking of the conventions of westerns in this one is really fun.

Bubble Trouble - I’ve always loved the idea of a portable hole, which has come up a number of times in cartoons. How convenient it would be to be able to pick up a hole and carry it with you, then slap it down wherever you wanted! This is the only Pooh episode I recall using this device, which adds to a slight sense of unreality even within this fantastical world, but that’s okay. Poor Gopher has lost his favorite hole in a windstorm, and nobody seems to care. Meanwhile, Tigger has perfected a super-strong bubble, and Pooh is trapped inside of one. Will he ever escape? Each thread is fun on its own, and I love the way they come together in the end. This episode also includes one of my favorite uses of the series’ mournful music as Pooh contemplates having to spend the rest of his life stuck in a bubble.

What’s the Score, Pooh? - Aside from Poohsticks, the most popular game in the Hundred-Acre Wood is Squishball, a marvelously zany game that has no clear-cut rules. You just pick up whatever game gear is available and make things up as you go along. My brother and I used to play our own version of this with our neighbor, and it was a lot of fun. Here, we find Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Rabbit engaged in quite a ferocious match spanning the whole forest. Meanwhile, Eeyore is in the midst of rebuilding his house, but every time he thinks he’s done, something comes along to destroy it again. His house designs get ever fancier, but it seems nothing can save his poor house from winding up a shabby pile of sticks. One of the most rambunctious Pooh episodes ever.

If you love the Silly Old Bear and don’t mind some departures from his original form, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a wonderful show, and this is a grand collection to give you a taste of what made this version of Winnie the Pooh so fun.

Flounder and Ursula Have Their Eyes on the Same Prize in An Undersea Wish

In one of my favorite episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit anxiously awaits the moment when his prized rutabaga potato will bloom. It’s a much-anticipated event, and the magic is in the rare blossoming of this fascinating plant. In An Undersea Wish, a book in The Little Mermaid’s Treasure Chest mail-order series published in 1992, Flounder is similarly entranced by a beautiful plant that almost never blooms, but his interest is not purely aesthetic.

Flounder is aware of the legend that when the flaminia blooms, whoever is watching will be granted a wish – but only if he is watching it happen all by himself. He believes that he is the only undersea resident to know about the legend and realize that this is the day he must go on a flower stake-out, but there is someone else who hopes to receive a wish from the amazing flower: Ursula, the sea witch. She sends her eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, to tell Flounder that Ariel is in trouble in hopes that this will convince him to vacate the premises. It works like a charm, but will Flounder be able to make it back to the flower before it blooms so he can stop Ursula from wishing to take over for King Triton as undersea ruler?

I’ve always found Flounder a very sweet character, so I liked that he gets a book to himself here. His twin sister Sandy, exclusive to this series, also makes an appearance, as does Sebastian, but this is mostly about his friendship with Ariel and his willingness to give up his dream to ensure his friend’s safety. Of course, Flounder, being the insecure little guy he is, has made one of those wishes that is basically already true, and he just doesn’t realize it. He wants to be “famous and important and loved” before it’s all said and done, he’ll realize that he is all three, especially the last, which is, after all, the most worthwhile of the three.

Of the three books in this series that I have read thus far, An Undersea Wish is my favorite. Continuity issues seem to ripple throughout the book series, but aside from another confrontation with Ursula involving Ariel, there’s nothing too glaring here. I’m curious as to whether Flounder’s twin was ever officially introduced; here, she’s really just a background character.

Like the rest of the books in this series, this one is a hardcover, with a cover design that resembles a golden treasure chest on the outside and has a significant scene from the book inside. It’s a pretty small book, wider than it is tall, and each page contains a paragraph or two of text. The illustrations are colorful, and all of the characters are rendered well. I especially like Flounder’s varied expressions.

If you’re a fan of the shy, loyal Flounder, chances are you’ll love An Undersea Wish.

Christopher Robin Assures Pooh, Piglet and Tigger of a Happy New Year

We’ve reached the beginning of 2011, which means that it’s also time for a new calendar. My experience working in a calendar kiosk tells me that it’s pretty common for people to wait until after Christmas to buy a calendar, since that’s when the discounts begin. Some even wait as long as February. In Happy New Year, Pooh!, Pooh doesn’t realize that he needs a new calendar at all. All he knows is that all the months are gone, a fact that has him perplexed, Tigger aghast and Piglet just plain depressed.

None of this sounds very happy, but the friends decide to commemorate the year behind them by making up a poem about it. There’s something special about each month, and Pooh suggests that they celebrate instead of mourning the months that are no more. Even Tigger gets in on the act, despite his insistence that poetry is definitely not what Tiggers do best. In fact, he shows a rather impressive grasp of internal rhyme when he talks about how he’ll miss “May-sy’s crazy daisy chains”.

Piglet contributes more than Tigger does, generally with a sad little sniffle, but Pooh does the bulk of the composing himself. He takes a typically humble Pooh approach to this, explaining, “You can’t think a poem, really; it just has to come to you.” This isn’t Milne-quality Pooh-etry, but it’s a nice basic way of acknowledging the passing of seasons. Children who read it may even be inspired to write their own odes to the months.

I’m not sure how it is that Tigger, Pooh and Piglet all managed to forget that they’ve experienced these months more than once, but time does have a funny way of getting away from you in the Hundred Acre Wood. Bears of Little Brain might not be able to keep many thoughts in their noggins, but Christopher Robin can always be counted upon to clear up any confusion. Just the cover illustration assures young readers that all will end happily.

This book is written in fairly simple prose when it’s not focusing on the calendar poem. I’d say about half the book is poetry and half is just regular narration and dialogue. The illustrations are colorful and pretty detailed. My favorite is either the full-page springtime picture, in which Pooh holds an umbrella to keep himself and a daisy-chain-making Piglet out of the rain, or the September illustration that shows Owl and Eeyore gazing over the edge of the Poohsticks Bridge. All of the major characters make at least one appearance, with the exception of Gopher, who often is left out, partly because he spends most of his time underground, partly because he’s a bit of an interloper to begin with. Still, I’ve always liked him.

But this is a cute book to ring in the new year with, inviting happy anticipation of the months to come.

Kathleen Zoehfeld and Josie Yee Provide Pooh's Big (Really Big) Book of First Words

I always enjoyed word books growing up. As a reader, they ideally would introduce me to new words or at least help me figure out how to spell words I already knew. As a writer, I found them a fun way to construct a book for someone so that it could have a personal touch without being wordy or even really needing a plot. I recall making word books for one of my brothers and a couple of my cousins, including a mix of photographs, magazine cut-outs and drawings. Winnie the Pooh’s Big Book of First Words is much more comprehensive and cohesive than any of my feeble attempts were. Written by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld and illustrated by Josie Yee, it really is a big book – too tall to fit on most bookshelves unless you stick it on its side. It’s also got a lot more words in it than I ever put in mine. We’re talking hundreds of words, and a few of them aren’t exactly commonplace.

Throughout the book, what we mostly have are two-page spreads depicting a particular scene. Off by itself in a colored box or two is a bit of narration. Everything else is just a detailed collection of meticulously labeled objects. The first stop is Pooh’s house, where there are 20 words scattered throughout the two pages. Most of this is pretty standard stuff like “bed,” “cupboard” and “table,” though some are a bit more surprising, like the “sunrise” glimpsed through the window and the “night-light” that is, in fact, a candle. We next watch Pooh do his stoutness exercises and have an opportunity to identify several parts of a Pooh’s body.

The third scene is one of my favorites, as it depicts such lovely woodland splendor. I’d love to wander along the path with Pooh as he makes his way to see his friends. It helps that on his way, he encounters three of my favorite animals: a salamander, a chipmunk and a squirrel. Then it’s off to Rabbit’s garden for a lesson on some of the things that grow in the ground and on trees and what tools are used to help nurture them properly. The next page identifies each of the ten major Hundred-Acre Wood characters, and the next depicts a makeshift schoolroom complete with objects as diverse as a chalkboard, blocks, a scrapbook and a map. There are also spreads devoted to recess activities, lunch, Tigger’s playroom, Gopher’s workshop, Kanga’s kitchen, Roo’s bathtub, Christopher Robin’s bedroom and, coming full circle, the outside of Pooh’s house, which looks more endearingly like a hobbit hole here than in any depiction I’ve ever seen.

One of my favorite series of pages is the book-within-a-book of Pooh reading The Animal ABC. There’s an animal for every letter of the alphabet, and it’s fun to point out those bearing a resemblance to established Disney characters. For instance, the baboon is a dead ringer for The Lion King’s Rafiki, and the black and white cat looks a lot like Pinocchio’s Figaro. Not only that, but a couple of the animals here are pretty unusual. I was especially struck by the Uakari, which is a type of monkey, and the Vicuna, a relative of the alpaca. I’ve read my share of animal alphabet books, but I’m pretty sure this is the only one to mention either of those.

Not only does this book identify objects, it also teaches about words in different ways. There’s a page on opposites that creatively uses Pooh and his friends to demonstrate pairs like “dirty” and “clean” and “happy” and “sad”. On another page, Owl gives a lesson on colors, while Rabbit gives a lesson on shapes. Four pages are devoted to Pooh and Piglet wandering through the forest counting objects and animals, all the way up to “twelve of Rabbit’s small relations”. Even the inside of the book’s covers get some use, as the four inner pages are set aside to show things associated with each of the seasons.

This is quite the extensive book. If anything, I might almost wonder if Zoehfeld and Yee are trying to do too much all at once. Words! Numbers! Shapes! Colors! Seasons! It’s enough to make a little head spin. Then again, there’s nothing saying you have to peruse the entire book in one sitting. Pooh has a happy habit of meandering cheerfully through his world in no particular hurry, and I would say that this would be a good way to approach this book as well. No matter how long you’ve been reading, Winnie the Pooh’s Big Book of First Words is a colorful celebration of the joy of discovery that awaits with each new day.

Piglet Is On His Way to Deliver A Friendly Sort of Gift

In my house, we’ve accumulated so many Christmas ornaments that one Christmas tree is nowhere near sufficient to contain them. The theory is that eventually, my brother Nathan and I will leave home with a hefty collection of ornaments in tow, just as my brother Benjamin did, but right now, we’ve got enough for three trees. We don’t have room for more than one full-size tree, but several years ago, Mom got each of us a small artificial tree where we could hang especially small ornaments.

Every year since, she’s tried to find us Hallmark Keepsake Miniatures to hang on our individual trees. For some reason, these seem to be harder to come by nowadays than when we began our collections. Nonetheless, I can pretty much always count on finding a tiny, adorable ornament in my stocking. This year’s was A Friendly Sort of Gift, from the Winnie the Pooh Collection. Like other ornaments of its size, it fares best on a small tree just because it might get lost on a tree of typical size, but as long as you’re careful about retrieving it when the time comes to undecorate, it does hang nicely from a normal-sized branch.

I have more Winnie the Pooh ornaments than anything else, and this little Piglet is a welcome addition. I’ve always felt a great affinity for Piglet, being of a rather skittish nature myself. Piglet’s a nervous little fellow, but overpowering his jitters is his capacity for friendship, particularly with his very best friend Pooh. In this year’s Hallmark miniature ornament, it’s the friendliness and not the anxiety being emphasized.

Piglet stands about an inch tall, and in his hands he holds a cheerfully wrapped present that is nearly an inch tall itself. The wrapping paper is blue with a pattern of yellow stars and bound with a yellow ribbon, and it’s fun to imagine what might be in there. It’s a very tall, skinny package, so it doesn’t seem likely to be a honey pot, the stereotypical present for a Pooh Bear. It seems that Piglet put on his thinking cap and got his friend something very creative. (Not to worry, though; I’m sure Christopher Robin has a honey pot or two with his name on it!)

Piglet is all smiles here, with one foot down and the other at a 90-degree angle just below the package. The coloring is just right for Piglet, with light pink limbs and face and a magenta jumper with black stripes. He also wears a vibrant green scarf. Attached to the top of the mystery gift is a sprig of holly, complete with berries, and a tag that says ?”. This is also where you’ll find the tiny ring for the hook.

Piglet is starting his year off right. If the weather in the Hundred-Acre Wood is anything like it’s been on the East Coast, he probably had to brave a bit of a blizzard to get his gift out to Pooh, but he’s not letting that stop him. When faced with the right motivation, Piglet tends to find that he is more courageous than he gives himself credit for. Christopher Robin has been known to tell Pooh, “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Something tells me he passed that message on to a Very Small Animal who needed the encouragement.

“Piglet’s on his way to Pooh / with a biggish sort of gift – / there’s so much friendly packed inside, / it’s rather hard to lift.” So goes the rhyme on the back of the box containing this very festive miniature. Hard to lift? Maybe. But I suspect that Piglet doesn’t mind in the slightest.

I Alpha-Bet You'll Love Winnie the Pooh's A to Zzzz

I’ve read a lot of alphabet books through the years. My favorites are the ones in which the objects listed for each letter are not in isolation. It’s more fun if there’s a sentence or two to go with it. Winnie the Pooh’s A to Zzzz certainly delivers on that score. Written by Don Ferguson and illustrated by Bill Langley and Diana Wakeman, this 1992 book incorporates all of the major Pooh characters: Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Christopher Robin and Disney addition Gopher.

Each page features a full-color, full-page illustration depicting various Hundred-Acre Wood residents in action, and set over top of that is a four-line rhyming verse that includes the word at hand. Just above that is an extra-big appearance of the letter, followed, in capital letters, by “IS FOR _____”. For instance, we naturally have “H IS FOR HONEY,” and the illustration shows Pooh, surrounded by honey jars, enjoying a smackerel. You get the sense that you just opened the door and caught him by surprise; the scene feels vibrant and immediate, which is typical for this book.

Another nice aspect of the book is that it shows us the Hundred-Acre Wood in various seasons. V is for Vest, which fits Piglet “like an all-day hug” as the browning leaves drift to the ground around him, while on the D page, spring is in full bloom, to the accompaniment of trilling birds and one of my favorite mini-poems in the book: “In spring, Pooh’s door / Is open wide / To let the sunshine / Come inside.” The S is for Seesaw page looks pretty summery as a worried Piglet sits suspended high in the air, seemingly stuck since he’s so much lighter than Pooh. This is actually the only page to include Christopher Robin, and it’s really more of a cameo, as the verse doesn’t mention him and he’s more of a casual observer than a participant in the activity at hand. N is for Nose gives us Kanga and Roo in winter; though they hail from Australia, they seem to have no trouble adjusting to freezing temperatures, and Roo looks perfectly cheerful as he playfully tweaks his mother’s nose.

The pictures in this book really are beautiful, filled with detail and bright colors. Of the 26 letters, 20 of them have an illustration that includes Pooh, though not all of the verses do. Gopher, on the other hand, only appears on one page, like Christopher Robin, but at least he is the star character with G is for Gopher. Most of the characters similarly are the subjects of a page. We have P is for Piglet, focusing on Piglet’s diminutive size; E is for Eeyore, which the gloomy donkey would be pleased to know is one of only two two-page spreads in the book; R is for the very busy Rabbit; T is for the bouncy Tigger; O is for Owl, who “tells Pooh everything he knows. / And sometimes even more!”

While every letter is very well represented in this book, I have a clear favorite, a page that I think would make a nice poster in isolation. In it, a gentle snowfall blankets the forest, and pine needles just barely peek through as a smiling Pooh and Piglet pass, the bear all bundled up in a sky blue hat and scarf, Piglet in a green scarf and white earmuffs. They wear matching off-white boots, and a long trail of footprints is behind them. The verse, meanwhile, seems very sage in a way, with a subtle message about the future always being open to new and surprising possibilities: “Our footprints always follow us / On days when it’s been snowing. / They always show us where we’ve been, / But never where we’re going.”

Clearly, you don’t have to be a youngster to get a kick out of this book, but if it had been in print back when I was getting intimately acquainted with the alphabet, I’m sure I would have loved it then too. From start to finish, Winnie the Pooh’s A to Zzzz is one of the most enjoyable books of its kind that I have encountered.

Disney Artists Give Three Cheers For Pooh With The Art of Winnie the Pooh

Last week, I watched The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story, and when it came to the part about writing the music for the Winnie the Pooh featurettes Disney did in the 1960s, a lot of it sounded very familiar. I realized that was because Richard Sherman had related much of the same material in his foreword for The Art of Winnie the Pooh: Disney Artists Celebrate the Silly Old Bear, a beautiful coffee table book commemorating Pooh’s 80th birthday. When I received it as a Christmas gift a few years back, I was surprised to discover that neither Sherman had thought much of Pooh at first glance, but the enthusiasm of costume and set designer Tony Walton had caused them to see the stories in a new light. Meanwhile, I was touched by the anecdote he shared about Jessica McClure, the little girl who captured national attention when she became trapped in a Texas well in 1987. One of the things that got the 18-month-old and her mother through the ordeal was singing the Winnie the Pooh song, since Jessica remembered Pooh being stuck and figured since he got out safely, she would too, and the song reminded her of that.

There’s not a lot of writing in this book, just the two-page foreword; the two-page introduction by Ken Shue, vice president of Disney’s global art development and licensing operations at the time this was published in 2006, which talks about the need for Disney employees to balance hard word and a deep appreciation for “nonsense” and the quotes and explanations that accompany each of the artistic interpretations of Pooh and his friends, along with the name of the artist, the title, and a description of the medium. At the very end of the book, there is also a paragraph devoted to each of the 80 Disney artists whose contributions are included.

This is a handsome collection that reminds me a bit of the public art projects that my city embraced earlier this decade. The first and more successful of them invited local artists to decorate fish statues, using one of two basic patterns; the second did the same with frogs. Boy, did some of them get creative with it! And in both cases, the statues were included in attractive books. The artists here have even more free reign, as the only restriction is that their subject must have something to do with Pooh’s world. The bear himself need not even appear in the artwork, though in most cases he does. For a Pooh fanatic like me, it’s wonderful to peruse these paintings, drawings and other works and get a sense for how many different ways there are to draw inspiration from a beloved fictional landscape.

The artists have an opportunity to discuss their process here, though not quite half of them do. Even when it’s just a sentence or two, I appreciate the insight into that particular person’s connection with the Hundred-Acre Wood. Several others opt to include a quote, usually from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, that relates to the artwork at hand. For instance, David Pacheco’s untitled colored pencil drawing shows Tigger, Pooh and Piglet sharing a belly laugh, and he explains how Pooh and his friends remind him of his own friends and the joy they take in laughing together. Judith Holmes Clarke’s ”I Can Fly!”, also in colored pencil, is one of my favorite drawings in the book. With its bluish tint and mysteriously fluid look, it shows a winged Pooh and Piglet soaring through a night sky. “To say ‘I can fly!’ is all that is Pooh,” Clarke says. Her biographical sketch lends further insight, as it reveals that she created the Disney Fairies, whose sylvan world is so appealing that I bought the punch-out calendar featuring several of their homes a couple years back.

Most of the pictures look pretty similar to the established Disney Pooh look, but some, like Rich Tuzon’s earthy watercolors that feature a Pooh who moves about on all fours, feel closer to the original Pooh books, and some, like Satoru Kawano’s Block Pooh, which depicts eight of the Pooh characters using only straight lines, feel very futuristic. Lori Tyminski’s earless Pooh pastel, Wincent Van Pooh, pays tribute to Vincent Van Gogh, while Jim Valeri and Geppy Vaccaro’s acrylic Poohcasso honors Pablo Picasso and Alan Batson’s digital The Connaisseur is a nod at Norman Rockwell.

I could talk about every one of the representations in this book, and I’m tempted to, but I’ll just mention a few more that I really love. Steven Andrews’ digital Storyteller shows TIgger telling a lively ghost story to Pooh and Piglet, who clutch each other nervously on the other side of a blazing fire. They’re right beside a meandering creek, and they look to be deep in a green valley, with storm clouds encroaching on the stars overhead. This scene reminds me very much of camping with my folks at Little Pine State Park in Little Pine Valley, PA, and it’s gorgeously done, with everything dark and spooky aside from that tiny circle of light from the fire. As a big fan of music from the 1960s, I love Philo Barnhart’s Technicolor digital Pooh vibrations, which reminds me not only of the obvious Beach Boys song but also Simon and Garfunkel’s Feelin’ Groovy, and Eric Hutchison’s digital Abbey Bridge, which recreates the Beatles’ Abbey Road cover with Tigger as John Lennon, Piglet as Ringo Starr, Pooh as Paul McCartney and Eeyore as George Harrison, gets a big smile out of me.

Carson Van Osten’s pencil drawing Pooh sticks… with you is the perfect way to conclude the collection, with a lovely black-and-white depiction of Pooh and Piglet standing on the Poohsticks bridge, with Christopher Robin standing on the railing and gazing over the side. It looks very much like a marriage of Ernest Shepard and the traditional Disney Pooh look. This is what Pooh is all about, lazy days spent enjoyably in the company of good friends. You can be transported to many such moments with The Art of Winnie the Pooh. If you’ve ever wanted to venture Deep in the Hundred-Acre Wood, this book will most assuredly take you there.

Kenny Loggins Enchants Again With More Songs From Pooh Corner

Kenny Loggins and Winnie the Pooh go way back. Like many children before him, he met Pooh in the classic books by A. A. Milne. Around the time he wrote House at Pooh Corner as a high school student grappling with his reluctance to leave childhood behind, Richard and Robert Sherman were writing the iconic songs that would soon become instantly identifiable as having to do with the Silly Old Bear. I read Milne’s books, which were wonderful, but I met Pooh first via Disney, like so many of my generation. There’s something extra touching, then, about Loggins finding his way back to the Hundred Acre Wood with the help of the Sherman Brothers.

More Songs From Pooh Corner is a follow-up album to Loggins’ Return to Pooh Corner, a collection of lullabies. Even when he released Return, it seems that he had an idea that this was a subject to which he would like to return. His opening note concludes, “Here are the songs I sing to my children… Should I say ‘part one’?” This album came out six years later, the same year as The Tigger Movie, which presented him with an opportunity to write an original song with the Sherman Brothers that in many ways feels like a response to House at Pooh Corner. While that song is a plea to return to a place he loved so much, the new song offers assurance that it’s not so out of reach.

Your Heart Will Lead You Home - This is the aforementioned song that served as the theme to The Tigger Movie. Unlike House at Pooh Corner, it makes no specific mention of anything that would immediately associate it with the Pooh universe, aside from the instrumental quote of the earlier song that opens it. If you heard this song on the radio with no context, chances are that your mind would not travel to the Hundred Acre Wood. There is a very Pooh-ish sort of sensibility to it, though, especially in the opening verse, which talks of such woodland staples as “lazy afternoons” and “hummin’ little tunes”. And the emphasis on friendship is certainly one that fits that world in general, and particularly that movie, since it finds Tigger having an identity crisis when, all at once, being the only one of his kind doesn’t seem so appealing anymore, and it’s up to his friends to show him that he does have a family after all. I suppose that after doing this, Loggins had Disney on the brain; three more songs from Disney movies turn up here. On an album that includes many childhood classics, this tender anthem feels right where it belongs. “When you feel lost and on your own and far from home, you’re never alone, you know. Just think of your friends, the ones who care. They all will be waiting there with love to share, and your heart will lead you home.”

You’ll Be In My Heart - Another Disney song released shortly before this album came out, this one comes from Tarzan, where it serves as a powerful expression of the love between mother and child. Written by Phil Collins, it speaks of the desire of a parent to protect his or her children and to keep them close even when they venture out on their own. A very gentle and understated performance. “When destiny calls you, you must be strong. I may not be with you, so you gotta hold on…”

Always, In All Ways - One of only four songs on the album not connected with a movie, this song goes very well with the one before it, conveying the same message of wanting to be there for one’s child. While You’ll Be In My Heart is directed at a young child, this song finds the parent dealing with the fledgling leaving the nest. It’s bittersweet, but the gentle, almost whispered song written by Loggins and Mark Mancina carries an assurance that the love and support remain just as strong despite the shift in circumstances. “I never thought that this day would come when we’d have to say goodbye, but now that you’re on your own, whenever you need a home, I’ll be there inside you always, in all ways.”

Flying Dreams - This gorgeous song is the theme of Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH and is probably just behind Somewhere Out There when it comes to my favorite songs from his movies. It always seemed like a bit of an odd theme to me, since it seems to be about romantic love, which really isn’t a focus of the movie, except for the fact that the widowed mouse at the heart of the story connects with the super-intelligent rats who save her family’s home because of their association with her husband. In that sense, one might say that his love transcends death and continues to bolster his wife and children. A beautiful duet with Olivia Newton-John, with woodwinds adding to its haunting quality. “Love, it seems, made flying dreams so hearts could soar. Heaven sent, these wings were meant to prove once more that love is the key…”

That’ll Do - Even though I loved Babe, I never saw its sequel, from which this is drawn. (I should do something about that soon.) But several years ago, I heard this gentle song at an Art Garfunkel concert , where his wife performed it beautifully. It’s a song of encouragement, written by Randy Newman around the taciturn Farmer Hoggett’s affirmation of choice. The incorporation of the harp and Uilleann pipes give an enchanting Celtic flavor to this heartening tune. “A kind and steady heart can conquer doubt and fear. A little courage goes a long, long way, gets you a little bit further down the road each day, and before you know it, you’ll hear someone say, ‘That’ll do, Babe. That’ll do.’”

Turn Around - This Harry Belafonte song is another that isn’t associated with a movie, and I don’t think it’s one that I’ve heard in another context. It’s a Sunrise, Sunset sort of song about how quickly time passes. A bit melancholy but very tender, with sparse guitar accompaniment. “Where are you going, my little one, little one? Little pigtails and petticoats, where have you gone? Turn around and you’re tiny, turn around and you’re grown, turn around and you’re a young wife with babes of your own.”

Beauty and the Beast - I confess that of all the songs in Beauty and the Beast, this one, while beautiful and insightful, is my least favorite. Unlike the rest, it doesn’t feel particularly connected to the character who sings it, and as a love song, Something There feels much more in-the-moment and intimate to me. Still, the fact that this is a “tale as old as time” means that this Alan Menken / Howard Ashman song resonates with a lot of people, and I think I prefer this mellow version to the grandiose radio version that helped catapult Celine Dion to stardom. “Barely even friends, then somebody bends unexpectedly. Just a little change, small to say the least. Both a little scared, neither one prepared, Beauty and the Beast.”

Baby Mine - This Dumbo weeper also appears on Art Garfunkel’s Songs From a Parent to a Child, one of my favorite children’s albums. I’m partial to that version of the song, which is pretty much You’ll Be In My Heart six decades earlier, but Loggins does a lovely job with it as well. Certainly one of the most fundamentally lullaby-like tracks on the album. “All those same people who scold you, what they’d give just for the right to hold you…”

The Inch Worm - I vividly remember the first time I watched the Danny Kaye musical Hans Christian Andersen. My friend and I were having a sleepover, and both of us had Little Mermaid fever. Since the Disney animated feature was, as I recall, between theaters and home video at the time, Mom and Dad thought it might be fun for us to watch this movie, in which Andersen’s classic is presented as a ballet. I think I liked the movie more than she did, and it didn’t hurt that I already knew this song, since Anne Murray included it on her children’s album, There’s a Hippo In My Tub, which I’d probably listened to dozens of times by that point. It’s a nice reminder not to get so caught up in quantitative considerations that you forget how to stop and smell the flowers. A nice violin section and a kids’ chorus enhance this gentle song. “Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds, seems to me you’d stop and see how beautiful they are.”

Hana Aluna Lullabye - Another song that Loggins had a hand in writing. This one is directed at his daughter, who was named for the Hawaiian town of Hana. A very soothing tune that includes a fair bit of Hawaiian, along with ukulele. Listening to this song on a snowy winter day whisks me away to tropical shores for a few moments. No movie connection, but a definite sense of place. “Before you were born, I saw you in the sunrise, in the arms of my lover, in the music of the islands. And you are made of paradise, of ginger and pikake, wild mango and moonlight and dreams of our sweet ohana.”

Goodnight - Loggins included a John Lennon song on his first children’s album, and this time around he closes with a tip of the hat to Lennon / McCartney. This duet with Alison Krauss is a most fitting way to end the album, in which every track segues seamlessly into the next. Here, the transition will hopefully be into dreamland as Loggins closes the track with a softly spoken “goodnight”. “Now it’s time to say good night. Good night, sleep tight. Now the sun turns out his light. Good night, sleep tight. Dream sweet dreams for me; dream sweet dreams for you.”

Somehow, I think that whoever is listening to this album will do just that.