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Winnie-the-Pooh's Back, But Who Invited The Otter?
Filed under: In The News, Books for Kids, New In Pop Culture, Home Base
The Winnie-the-Pooh sequel, "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood," has been met with criticism. Credit: Amazon.com
What's with the otter?
After 81 years, we finally learn what happens to Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and the rest of the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood. And curiously, there's an otter involved.
Some Pooh purists are not at all amused by first officially sanctioned sequel to A.A. Milne's classic children's tales, "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood." Characters have been added to the pantheon before, most notably a gopher with a speech impediment. But that was for the Disney cartoons.
Milne's original work has always been considered sacrosanct. Now The New York Times reports not everyone is happy with the sequel published this month.
"It's just too much to hope that someone who isn't the original writer will capture the voice, character, setting, pacing (and all the other elements of bookmaking) in the right measure," children's book author Elizabeth Bluemle told The Times.
Bluemle is also the co-owner of the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vt., and president of the Association of Booksellers for Children. She told The Times that sequels to beloved children's books are usually "thin soup" and distract children from the superior originals.
There is already a distinct difference between the Pooh children see in the books and the one that appears on TV screens and T-shirts. The Walt Disney Company owns the merchandising rights to Milne's characters. Pooh Properties Trust oversees the original books.
Trust officials gave David Benedictus, an English writer, permission to pen 10 new stories for a new book called "Return to the Hundred Acre Woods." Not much has changed, Benedictus told The Times.
Christopher Robin has not aged a day since 1928. The only big change is Lottie the Otter, who shows up wearing a string of pearls and sporting a saucy attitude. Any other changes are just minor tweaks, Benedictus told The Times.
"I made Eeyore a little more proactive so he wasn't always the victim, although you can't turn him into Gary Cooper or something," he told the paper.
What do you think? Should sequels be written to classic children's books?
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 5)
10-07-2009 @ 5:34PM
sweta said...I was disappointed enough when the Heffalump movie came out; the Heffalump was the only antagonist in Winnie-the-Pooh and it lent a little scary part of Winnie-the-Pooh I always enjoyed. Making the Heffalump friendly and misunderstood seemed to disrespect the original concept. I would read this, but I probably won't enjoy it as much as the original stories by A.A Milne.
Reply
10-07-2009 @ 2:24PM
Jan said...to gchjr
you certainly have a right to your point of view , but for the most
part you do sound like a political "grump".
And I do believe this sequel was writtien by and Englishman? Wasn't it? Of course I could be incorrect. Try and lighten up gchjr.
I am over 50 y/o myself and I do believe there is still HOPE for the
counrty as well as the WORLD. (Despite the fact that I too enjoy thecharacter of Eeyore)
Stay PEACEFUL and well.
Reply
10-07-2009 @ 2:32PM
2nd Degree Plagiarism said...Such so-called "sequels," it seems to me, are little more than "copycat" works written by authors whose inherent lack of creativity and/or skill compel them to resurrect the ideas and characters that other, better authors have established, and merely extend unto them empty and unwanted embellishments of plot and circumstance. It's not 1st degree plagiarism, perhaps, but it certainly demeans the originals when the false zombie characters seem to carry on after their literary lives have effectively been terminated. Shame.
Reply
10-07-2009 @ 2:50PM
rita said...When I read the pooh book for the first time, I wasn't sure that I had read correctly. So I went back and read it again- I couldn't believe had badly that book had been written. It is still one of the worst childrens book I've ever read. I refue to read it to my grandchildren
Reply
10-07-2009 @ 4:02PM
Jason West said...Hey!
What happen to my comment??
Jason West
JWCALIGULA@AOL.COM
Reply