(4.5 / 5)

The story itself was wonderful, and the narrator did an overall great job. Though I had to listen closely to hear the sound of the fire crackling, I liked that now and then, I could hear pages turning. It felt more like actually being there, listening to him read. I appreciated the conversational style he employed, and I've always loved Gildart Jackson's voice, so that made it all the more fun. I'll admit that I didn't care for the way he voiced Owl, but overall, it was a lot of fun to listen to. ( )

Sometimes we should NOT revisit childhood classics. This was a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. I thought I knew most everything there was in the Winnie the Pooh stories. I grew up reading them or having them read to me. I grew up watching the many versions on the Disney channel, from the original animated to the puppet interpretation, this was my childhood. I looked forward to revisiting this, and the idea of the Fireside Chat. To be read Winne the Pooh as it was originally intended. Yeah, that was probably a bad idea after Uvalde. You see I forgot that Christopher Robin shot Winne the Pooh. It is in the first 30 minutes. Winnie the Pooh is attached to a balloon trying to get to the honey, but he’s stuck. Christopher robin shoots him down. Now in the animated version it is a cork gun, but if it was mentioned that way in the audiobook telling, I didn’t catch it. But once that gun went off, I was taken completely out of the story. I could picture Pooh with a rifle when he feared the heffulumps, but I did not remember this incident. And it ruined the rest of the book for me. When I was a child, shootings were not as prevalent as they are today. Children dying for lack of gun control was not a big thing in the media. And now it is so common and heart wrenching that I just could not get back into the story after this. I made it through two of the three hours of the book, but then gave up. I just kept picturing Christopher Robin with a gun pointed at Pooh. And that is it. I’m done. It will take a bit to get over this, and to get back to the love of Pooh. It will come in time, but for now this book is just not for me, and could trigger young readers, and adults alike. ( )