Pooh and Beyond!

A. A. Milne is perhaps best known for his Winnie-the-Pooh stories; however, in Now We Are Six he goes far beyond the characters who live in the forest.

Pooh fans will appreciate the poems about Pooh and Christopher Robin, but the bulk of the poetry in the book tackles other subject matter important to six-year-olds -- from loneliness (Solitude) to naughtiness (The Good Little Girl) to what you could be when you grow up (Cherry Stones).

Another reviewer commented on the pen-and-ink drawings of Ernest Shepard. The illustrations do a good job portraying the stories told by the poetry; however, if the reader is accustomed to the flashy multi-colored world of Dr. Seuss, the black-and-white sketches may not always hold their interest. This is the main problem I run into when I read this book to my three-year-old son. He enjoys the rhyming and the rhythm of the words, but the pictures don't yet seem to appeal to his imagination. Maybe when he is six!

The poems vary in length considerably. Some are a few lines long; others run several stanzas over several pages. The longer ones are perfect at bedtime. The shorter poems are great for learning by heart and saying together... for instance, the last poem in the book, called The End:

When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two,
I was nearly new.

When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more.

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
SO I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.


If you're a strict Winnie-the-Pooh fan, you might not enjoy this book as much as you did Winnie-the-Pooh and the House on Pooh Corner. If, however, you enjoy nursery rhymes and whimsical verse, and you don't mind the occasional cameo from Edward Bear, this is a great read.