When We Were Very Young - Winnie-the-Pooh Series, Book #1 - Unabridged

By A. A. Milne

"When We Were Very Young" is a book of poetry for children by the legendary British author A.A. Milne and marks the first appearance of the "silly old bear" who would soon become a worldwide sensation: Winnie-the-Pooh.  

In these poems, the narrator - a young boy named Christopher Robin (after Milne's own son) - navig

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ft. Raphael Publishing Company
• Release date: Dec 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958943397

A. A. Milne

A.A. Milne (1882-1956) was an English writer. Born in London, Milne was educated at an independent school run by his father. Milne went on to Trinity College, London, where he earned a B.A. in Mathematics while editing and writing for the student magazine Granta. Upon graduating in 1903, Milne worked as a contributor and assistant editor for Punch, Britain’s leading humor magazine, while playing amateur cricket. He served in the British Army in the Great War as an officer and was injured at the Battle of the Somme in July of 1916, which led to his work as a propaganda writer for Military Intelligence before his discharge in 1919. Having married in 1913, Milne and his wife Dorothy de Sélincourt welcomed their son Christopher Robin Milne into the world in 1920. Around this time, Milne worked as a screenwriter for the British film industry while continuing to publish in Punch, where his poem “Teddy Bear” appeared in 1924. Marking the first appearance of his character Pooh, this launched Milne’s career as a successful children’s author. Winnie-the Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928) were immediate bestsellers for Milne and continue to be read, cherished, and adapted today. Following this success, disturbed by the fame surrounding his son Christopher Robin, who figured as a character in his Pooh stories, Milne turned to writing adult fiction and plays, including Toad of Toad Hall (1929), an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s beloved novel The Wind in the Willows (1908).

Book preview

CONTENTS

Just Before We Begin

Corner of the Street

Buckingham Palace

Happiness

The Christening

Puppy and I

Twinkletoes

The Four Friends

Lines and Squares

Brownie

Independence

Nursery Chairs

Market Square

Daffodowndilly

Water Lillies

Disobedience

Spring Morning

The Island

The Three Foxes

Politeness

Jonathan Jo

At the Zoo

Rice Pudding

Missing

The King’s Breakfast

Hoppity

At Home

The Wrong House

Summer Afternoon

The Dormouse and the Doctor

Shoes and Stockings

Sand Between the Toes

Knights and Ladies

Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy-Blue

The Mirror

Halfway Down

The Invaders

Before Tea

Teddy Bear

Bad Sir Brian Botany

In the Fashion

The Alchemist

Growing Up

If I Were King

Vespers

Biography of A.A. Milne

JUST BEFORE WE BEGIN

At one time (but I have changed my mind now) I thought I was going to write a little Note at the top of each of these poems, in the manner of Mr. William Wordsworth, who liked to tell his readers where he was staying, and which of his friends he was walking with, and what he was thinking about, when the idea of writing his poem came to him. You will find some lines about a swan here, if you get as far as that, and I should have explained to you in the Note that Christopher Robin, who feeds this swan in the mornings, has given him the name of Pooh. This is a very fine name for a swan, because, if you call him and he doesn't come (which is a thing swans are good at), then you can pretend that you were just saying Pooh! to show how little you wanted him. Well, I should have told you that there are six cows who come down to Pooh's lake every afternoon to drink,