A New Pooh? What Do You Think About This?
Probably most folks have heard that there is a new Pooh out. If not, here’s an article from the Associated Press. Christopher Robin returns to the 100 Acre Wood, along with a fastidious otter named Lottie. The author is David Benedictus and the illustrator is Mark Burgess. Picking up where the creator A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard left off, an older Christopher Robin returns to his friends.
For my self, I didn’t read it until I was in college. My best friend had a Latin teacher who constantly quoted from Pooh. He was a well respected scholar, so I took it as a highly positive recommendation. Pooh was a fantastic book, or books, as it turned out, and really shouldn’t be relegated to childhood.
So now, how does messing with this sort of classic play? I’m not so much in favor of this sort of thing. I wonder if it isn’t sort of a poor conjuring trick. New author David Benedictus, whose had a long association with adapting Pooh to alternative print and soundtracks doesn’t think one should take this all that seriously, and I suppose he’s right. He says
“If I did it badly, it wouldn’t be like I’d destroyed the originals,” said Benedictus, a novelist and playwright who was responsible for the audio adaptations of several Pooh stories. “I hoped I could do it well. But no, I don’t think I felt a weighty responsibility — that would have been a bit pompous.”
What do you think about this? Me? I’m a bit bugged by this, but I’ll give it a try next week. I’m due for a return trip to the bookstore.
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