Now, see, this is what I was hoping would happen when Winnie-the-Pooh went into public domain. Here's a story Disney would never tell!

Cornered by his father's sly tongue, Christopher Robin agrees to strip Pooh of his honey and his house to prove Pooh will remain kind and devoted instead of turning to anger. God is a capricious child, indeed.

Pooh, of course, remains steadfast though afflicted with bee stings and snagged by brambles and thorns, but he does know despair. "'It all comes from being tormented too much' thought Pooh."

My daughter and I howled with laughter through the suffering and gasped at the reward given the faithful at the end.

This picture book is illustrated with Ernest H. Shepard's artwork, some of it manipulated or redrawn a bit poorly but mostly untouched and well chosen.

I hope to see more people unleashing their full imagination on Pooh soon.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... ) ( )