Barbara Gaines Winkelman

Pooh can't imagine why his friends seem to be avoiding him and doing things without him, though he does have a faint notion that today might be a special day of some sort. It seems to me he, based on some other books I've read over the last year, that Pooh forgets this special day almost every year, resulting in a delightful surprise for him but just another retread for me.

(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... )… (altro)

I dislike when the story in a children's book is based on factually incorrect information. In this tale, for instance, Owl declares it is time for him to fly south for the winter . . . even though most types of owls rarely migrate with the seasons. It is not uncommon for Owl to give bad information in Pooh stories, but his lapses are usually pointed out by another character, and this time it's just left there uncorrected.

Rolling with the premise, the rest of the book is a ho-hum study in how various residents of the Hundred-Acre Wood cope with missing their absent friend . . . until his inability to navigate makes all the emotional turmoil moot.

Side note: This is another entry in Disney's My Very First Winnie the Pooh series that credits the story as an adaptation on the title page even though I cannot track down where the story may have first appeared. Frustrating.

UPDATE – JUNE 11, 2023

Yay, I finally found the source for this adaptation. It is very loosely based on the short story "Owl's Well That Ends Well" from Winnie the Pooh's Bedtime Stories, written by Bruce Talkington and illustrated by John Kurtz. It's such a loose adaptation, it actually incorporates pictures from other stories in the same book to add some very different aspects.

(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... )… (altro)

Piglet hears scary sounds and sees scary shadows in the night, but Pooh helps him work out the non-scary reasons for them. Then the story simply repeats the exact same thing with Kanga and Roo. I guess that's one way to fill out the page count.

Once again the title page claims this is an adaptation, but I have no idea what it is adapting.

UPDATE, JUNE 15, 2023:

I have found at least part of the source of the adaptation! The second half of this book, featuring Kanga and Roo, is loosely adapted from the short story "Shadow Play" from Winnie the Pooh's Bedtime Stories, written by Bruce Talkington and illustrated by John Kurtz.

(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... )… (altro)

Pooh is jealous that everyone else has a favorite place so -- perhaps forgetting his Thoughtful Spot or the Honey Tree -- he sets out to find his own, only to get lost. When things are put aright again, he has one of the sappiest realizations I've had the misfortune to read aloud.

Barbara Gaines Winkelman gets her second strike and is shaping up to be one of my least favorite Pooh writers. And the usually reliable Robin Cuddy turns in some oddly drawn faces on Pooh this go round, with lots of unnecessary lines around the snout.

(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... )… (altro)