Return to the Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie-the-Pooh)

by David Benedictus, Mark Burgess (Illustrator)

Overview

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It was eighty years ago, on the publication of The House at Pooh Corner, when Christopher Robin said good-bye to Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Now they are all back in new adventures, for the first time approved by the Trustees of the Pooh Properties. This is a companion volume that truly captures the style of A. A. Milne-a worthy sequel to The House at Pooh Corner and Winnie-the-Pooh.

Listen to award-winning narrator Jim Dale reading the Exposition to Return to the Hundred Acre Wood. Also available from Penguin Audio.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101149492
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/05/2009
Series:	Winnie-the-Pooh Series
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	226,967
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

David Benedictus produced the audio adaptations of Winnie-the-Pooh, starring Dame Judi Dench. He lives in London, England.

Mark Burgess has previously illustrated Winnie-the-Pooh and other classic children's characters, including Paddington Bear. He lives in London, England.

Editorial Reviews

Christopher Robin returns from boarding school (80 years later) in this authorized but largely forgettable third volume of stories about Pooh, Piglet and the denizens of Milne's famous forest. Missing is the charm of the first book, mediated by an adult narrator creating a tableau for his child's imaginative play with a coterie of stuffed friends. Like the first books, there are 10 stories, but they are aged up to reflect Christopher's new interests—the play here involves a spelling bee, cricket, the creation of a school, the use of a thesaurus, atlas, dictionary, etc. A new character, Lottie the Otter, joins Rabbit and Owl to make a trio of the sanctimonious. Even saintly Kanga—Kanga!—loses her patience with Roo. There are a few inspired moments, including Rabbit's ill-conceived plan to lure his Friends and Relations to participate in a census using carrots and shortbread. (Rabbit also gets the best line: “Happy may be all very well, Eeyore, but it doesn't butter any parsnips.”) Burgess's illustrations are serviceable and resemble the originals, but, again, topping Shepard's originals proves a tough act to follow. All ages. (Oct.)\

Publishers Weekly

[A] warm jumble of happy memories. It's both surprising and comforting that tales of such soft tenderness are still relevant.

Booklist

Gr 1–4—Eighty years after the publication of the original "Winnie the Pooh" stories, this authorized sequel returns readers to the familiar characters and locales. Christopher Robin, on holiday from school, rejoins Pooh, timid Piglet, bouncy Tigger, patient Kanga, and his other friends for a summer full of adventure. In 10 stories, the friends put on a spelling bee, conduct a census, search for disappearing bees, start a school, and host a harvest festival. During a drought, they also meet a new resident of the forest, Lottie, an otter who is both forgetful and obsessed with etiquette. Another chapter, which describes a cricket match, may be more challenging for American readers. Fans of Pooh will recognize many elements: Pooh's hums, the animals' creative spelling, Piglet's fear of Heffalumps, and the maps on the endpapers. What's different is Christopher Robin; a year older, he seems less innocent, more in the role of an older sibling than a playmate. In addition, most members of the large cast of characters appear in each chapter, which feels a bit overwhelming. The writing is warm and humorous, though it doesn't quite match the charm and whimsy of the originals. Burgess's watercolor illustrations, on the other hand, are quite reminiscent of Shepard's. Pooh purists may find fault, but the book will likely be popular with many young readers and their parents.—Jackie Partch, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

School Library Journal

Listeners who settle in to hear these new Winnie-the-Pooh stories will find good friends, good food (including lots of honey, of course), and good adventures. David Benedictus, who dramatized A.A. Milne’s Pooh stories for audio, succeeds admirably in staying faithful to the spirit of the originals. Jim Dale is a marvel. Without relying on any of his voices from the Harry Potter series, he nonetheless populates an entire small wood: His Rabbit gets a Scottish accent; his Piglet squeaks; his Eeyore is appropriately gloomy. Dale even sings Pooh’s “hums,” the rhyming songs he makes up. The whole is an utterly charming audio production that evokes the feeling of never-ending childhood summers. J.M.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2009 - AudioFile