Poetry Friday: Winnie-The-Pooh

I'm reading an absolutely enchanting book with my son. It's about a bear named Pooh and his friends Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Christopher Robin. (We haven't met Tigger yet. He isn't introduced until the second book.)

You've heard of it, you say?

My son hasn't. It's just wonderful to watch him discover these incredibly famous characters for the very first time. Also, I'm realizing (as countless other parents have realized) what a fantastic book Winnie-the-Pooh is to read aloud. It's filled with poems, songs, creative text arrangements (in a pre-computer era) and short chapters, all of which work well with a young crowd. Also, Ernest Shepard's immortal "decorations" break up the words nicely and keep my son interested.

Since today is Poetry Friday, here's one of my favorites poems from the book. It's a song that Pooh hums to himself as he climbs up the honey tree in chapter one.

"It's a very funny thought that, if Bears were Bees,
They'd build their nests at the bottom of trees.
And that being so (if the Bees were Bears),
We shouldn't have to climb up all these stairs."
-A.A. Milne

The Poetry Friday round-up today is at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup.

And, see this post for more about my face-to-face encounter with Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed bear at the Central Children's Room in the Donnell Library Center.