The House At Pooh Corner is the second volume of stories about a bear called Winnie-The-Pooh and was written by English author A.A. Milne in 1928. Milne was a gifted and mercurial writer who studied at Cambridge University on a mathematics scholarship. He was a noted playwright before the success of Winnie-The-Pooh eclipsed his previous work. Milne was a passionate cricket player and was a member of a cricket team called The Allahakbarries with fellow writers J.M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Milne wrote the Winnie-The-Pooh books for his son, Christopher Robin Milne, and the characters were inspired by his son's collection of stuffed toy animals, notably his teddy bear Winnie-The-Pooh. Originally named Edward, he was re-named after a Canadian black bear named Winnie (short for Winnipeg) who was used as a military mascot in World War One before being left to London Zoo after the war. E.H. Shephard's illustrations of Winnie-The-Pooh were based on his own son's teddy bear, Growler.
The title of the book comes from a story in which Pooh and Piglet build a house in Hundred Acre Wood for Eeyore; the Wood itself was based on Ashdown Forest in West Sussex in the south of England; the Milnes lived on the outskirts of Ashdown Forest and Christopher Robin would ofyen bring his teddy bear for walks in the forest with his father.
This volume of stories is mostly episodic. Each chapter is a story in its own right with definite beginning, middle and end. The only exceptions to this rule are chapters eight and nine which see all of the characters seeking a new home for Eeyore whose previous abode has blown down in the previous chapter.
The book teaches us about the nature and importance of true friendship but is also vaguely melancholy as throughout it we are made aware that Christopher Robin is growing up, and although it is never directly stated it is made apparent that he must soon leave his friends in Hundred Acre Wood. When the Wood's inhabitants realize that he is starting school and will therefore be leaving them behind, they throw him a farewell party to say goodbye. Pooh and Christopher Robin have their own private farewell and Pooh promises never to forget him even when he is one hundred.
This is a book that stands the test of time and teaches children about how to navigate their way through the changing stages of their childhood in a sensitive yet entertaining way, and despite the subsequent literary and artistic success respectively of both Milne and Shephard it is the Winnie-The-Pooh stories that they are forever remembered for.
