“Winnie The Pooh” by A. A. Milne
Genre: Children’s Fiction, Classic
Source: Gift
Summary from Goodreads:
The adventures of Christopher Robin and his friends in which Pooh Bear uses a balloon to get honey, Piglet meets a Heffalump, and Eeyore has a birthday.
Confession time. I never was a big Winnie-the-Pooh (Disney version) fan. Sure the movies are a bit cute but I always thought they seemed a bit dull and slow. I liked the idea of 100 Acre Woods and all the critters there but just never loved any of the media I saw. This book completely changed my mind. I love Pooh, Owl, Rabbit, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo!
It takes a while to fully understand what’s going on. From what I was able to gather, the book is a father (or maybe grandfather) telling stories to Christopher Robin. The stories are fictional but the two of them are pretending that they’re real. Pooh and Eeyore are Christopher Robin’s toys but Owl, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga and Roo are real animals. [If I messed that up, let me know and I can fix it.] Once you’re able to figure out what’s going on, you should be good to go.
Pooh’s stupidity (cluelessness?) in the movies always annoyed me. I found it incredibly charming in the book though. He’s so silly and the situations he gets into are pretty silly. You can’t help but laugh. The whole book is very sweet and gentle. The style reminds be a bit of C. S. Lewis. Even though I read this book as an adult I have an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for the book. It’s just one of those make-you-feel-comfortable type stories. It makes you want to be a kid again.
The characters are pretty spot on with how I think of them. Pooh is quite ditzy but loveable. Piglet is a scaredy-cat. Eeyore is pretty depressing (but I find him quite funny). Owl is the intellectual but he’s not as smart as he thinks. Christoper Robin is a typical little boy.
The bottom line? I need a sturdy copy of this book. It’s going to be read many times over my life. Highly recommended.
The Cheap Reader 
I love Eeyore. He’s my favourite.
Pretty certain that all of the animals are toys, though: at least Kanga and Roo, as you wouldn’t get a wild Kangeroo in England. Also, I seem to remember that their introduction (as with that of Tigger in the next book) is really about getting a new toy and incorporating them into an already established narrative?
I was surprised by how much I still enjoyed the book when I re-read it as a teenager. My copy is from when I was very young though, so it is covered in crayon and scribbles.
I thought the animals would be toys too since it’s the most logical thing. They do make a comment about Pooh’s head being full of stuffing and Owl or Rabbit’s head having brains in it which threw me off. I guess it doesn’t really matter since anything can happen when you’re pretending!