Oops I Did It Again.

Sequels (again)

I did it again. I read an 'official' sequel to a childhood favourite. Why do I keep doing this to myself?

I've loved the stories and characters from Winnie the Pooh for years. Tigger is my favourite, and I did queue for an hour at Disney for the chance to meet him. I'm not even that bothered by the Disney version of the characters although I do prefer the original illustrations by E H Shepard.

I knew that there was an authorised sequel to the original books coming but having been disappointed by sequels already this year I hadn't pre-ordered the book anywhere except the library.

Wise move. I won't be buying it.

Again I'm not sure if it is because I am reading it as an adult but there was something missing. Magic I think. The stories were too knowing, the wonder, and the imagination, was missing. Milne would never have had Rabbit talking about the Romans or Christopher Robin referring to the Trojan Horse. The character would have made up far better references in the original, the biggest 'enemy' in this book is the thesaurus - it doesn't quite measure up to the Heffalump does it?

The illustrations are also just a touch too modern, I can't quite put my finger on it but they are just not quite *it*.

The best chapter was the one where the characters learn to play cricket and Tigger scores 27 runs. Two of my favourite things mixing - hurrah.

In summary I suppose that there is nothing wrong with the book, the stories read pretty well and the illustrations capture the words pretty well, it is just when the introduction, sorry Exposition, is the best bit you know the book isn't quite as magical as you'd hoped.