Book Review: When We Were Very Young

A Book You Can Buy From Me

Book Title: When We Were Very Young

Author: A.A. Milne

Date: 1924, 1970

Publisher: E.P. Dutton (1924), Dell (1970)

Length: 102 pages

Illustrations: drawings by Ernest Shepard

ISBN: 0-440-49485-0

Quote: "Where am I going? I don't quite know. What does it matter where people go?"

This book was dedicated to Christopher Robin Milne, the child in Winnie the Pooh. When these books initially became popular, Christopher Robin was old enough to hate his father's four books of poems and stories that were all inspired by his having once been a toddler. The books are still terribly, awfully cute, and have not only stayed in print, but have even been made into Disney movies.

So perhaps what I need to say about these books is that there has never been a children's book, even Lisa and Lottie, even Comanche, that I didn't like better than the Disney movie.

What makes When We Were Very Young different from Now We Are Six? Different poems and pictures, of course. At least one of each two pages contains a picture--a line drawing--and, in between the pictures, there are 44 mostly short and childish poems, some better than others. This is the volume that contains "James James Morrison Morrison" and "Has anyone seen my mouse?" and "What is the matter with Mary Jane?"

Actual children of my acquaintance recommend photocopying and enlarging the pages so the details of the pictures can be colored in with crayons, watercolors, or felt-tip markers.

You can buy it from me online by e-mailing salolianigodagewi@yahoo.com $5 for the book and $5 for shipping, but since neither A.A. Milne nor even Christopher Robin is in a position to need $1, you might as well buy this one cheaper on Amazon and buy some other book from me. The copy I'm physically donating to Mountain Treasures, a legitimate local charity store in Gate City, has not been colored in by children but has been torn and taped, and should cost less than a dollar.