Return to the Hundred Acre Wood

197 Pages·2009·13.14 MB·English

by  Benedictus David

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One - in which Christopher Robin returns
Chapter Two - in which Owl does a crossword, and a Spelling Bee is held
Chapter Three - in which Rabbit organizes almost everything
Chapter Four - in which it stops raining for ever, and something slinky comes ...
Chapter Five - in which Pooh goes in search of honey
Chapter Six - in which Owl becomes an author, and then unbecomes one
Chapter Seven - in which Lottie starts an Academy, and everybody learns
something
Chapter Eight - in which we are introduced to the game of cricket
Chapter Nine - in which Tigger dreams of Africa
Chapter Ten - in which a Harvest Festival is held in the Forest and Christopher
...
IN THE TRADITION OF A. A. MILNE & ERNEST H.
SHEPARD
Dutton Children’s Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of
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Text by David Benedictus © 2009 by Trustees of the Pooh Properties Illustrations by Mark Burgess copyright © 2009 by Trustees of the Pooh Properties
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Published in the United States by Dutton Children’s Books,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group
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Simultaneously published in Great Britain 2009
by Egmont Books Limited, London
eISBN : 978-1-101-14949-2
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Dedication
You gave us Christopher Robin and Pooh
And a forest of shadows and streams,
And the whole world smiled with you, as you
Offered us your dreams.
I took up the offer and page upon page
And line upon fanciful line,
I tried to show in a different age
Your dreams are mine.

Exposition
Pooh and piglet, Christopher Robin and Eeyore were last seen in the Forest—oh,
can it really be eighty years ago? But dreams have a logic of their own and it is
as if the eighty years have passed in a day.
Looking over my shoulder, Pooh says:“Eighty is a good number really but it
could just as well be eighty weeks or days or minutes as years,” and I say: “Let’s
call it eighty seconds, and then it’ll be as though no time has passed at all.”
Piglet says: “I tried to count to eighty once, but when I got to thirty-seven the
numbers started jumping out at me and turning cartwheels, especially
thesixesandnines.”
“They do that when you’re least expecting it,” says Pooh.
“But are you really going to write us new adventures?” Christopher Robin
asks. “Because we rather liked the old ones.”
“I didn’t like the ones with the Heffalumps in them,” adds Piglet, shuddering.
“And can they end with a little smackerel of something?” asks Pooh, who may
have put on a few ounces in eighty years.
“He’ll get it wrong,”says Eeyore,“see if he doesn’t. What does he know about
donkeys?”
Of course Eeyore is right, because I don’t know; I can only guess. But
guessing can be fun, too. And if occasionally I think I have guessed right, I shall
reward myself with a chocolate biscuit, one of those with chocolate on one side
only so you don’t get sticky fingers and leave marks on the paper, and if
sometimes I am afraid that I have guessed wrong, I shall just have to go without.
“We’ll know,” says Christopher Robin. “We’ll help you get it right,if we
can.”And Pooh and Piglet smile and nod their heads, but Eeyore says: “Not that
you are likely to. Nobody ever does.”
D.B.