Now We Are Six

A sure cure for thunder, lightning and others difficult events of life! To be read at the drop of a hat or anything else! To bring smiles!

One of my favorites as a child. Still is!

"Now We Are Six" was published sometime between the publishing of the two two Winnie-the-Pooh books, and it looks very much like Milne's "When We Were Very Young" (which was published before either of the Pooh books hit the market). I would actually call it a sequel to "When We Were Very Young." It's just a collection of poetry with a special emphasis on childhood. Maybe I shouldn't say it's "just" a collection. Pooh would say it's actually a very grand collection. At least I think he would say so, because even a bear of very little brain knows what the word "grand" means. Milne immediately gets your attention with the "ahem" in his introduction, and fails to lose any of it from there. He tells a wide variety of funny/touching stories about topics ranging from a cowardly knight with unusually quiet armour to a problematic break for a little toy train. "King Hilary and the Beggarman" is a particularly good standout poem and is an effective parody of government offices in general that still can be applied perfectly to this very day. Hmm...there's a poem within a poem in "The Emperor's Rhyme" that I couldn't understand, even after looking the verses over several times. "Explained" is by far my favorite poem in this set. It shows the true comfort a child can get from something as simple as a doll's squeak. How strange it is that no doubt in the child's mind can possibly stand up to something we adults consider to be so completely negligible. Perhaps the poems "Pinkle Purr" and "Twice Times" best summarize the thoughts of the author in this book. They both emphasize the changes in the relationship between a parent and a growing child over time. You can really see how this theme has become a major concern of Milne during the passing of the three years between the publication of his poetry books. The man just loved his son a whole heck of a lot. I don't think he wanted to ever let this love go. It's truly the quality of a great dad. I often feel my dad is like Milne in a way, because of this.

My aunt gave me this book when I turned 6 years old, and I have since passed it on to my own 6-year old. We recently sat together reading this, and laughing over some of the poems and oh yes, explaining how poetry is different than some of the other books my daughter has read and enjoyed. She's thoroughly enjoyed this book as I did, and I hope she passes this along to her children and so on. These poems are timeless and funny and well worth sharing, they transcend the generation gap for sure!

There is nothing truly profound you can say about a book like this, or, for that matter, its predecessor WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG. These are simply short and very sweet books of children's poetry. They can be read to a child (perhaps one of the best introductions to poetry a youngster could receive) or read by an adult who is mature enough to truly apprectiate classic children's literature and poetry. A.A. Milne was a literary genius - that much is certain. If he wanted to write books consisting of classic and intellectual poetry, he certainly could have and would have. But his aims were much higher than that. He wanted to reach out to children and adults everywhere. He wanted to show that childhood innocence never has to end (see the last few lines of the last chapter of THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER). And unlike so many writers who (perhaps with the best of intentions) attempt this amazing feat, Milne succeeded.

A.A. Milne's second collection of poems has a different tone than his first; a little sly, a tad more mature, as befits little bookworms that have graduated from "When We Were Very Young". Now Milne gives us the delightfully funny "Sneezles" (Christopher Robin had wheezles and sneezles, they bundled him into his bed), and the hilarious good girl Jane ("Well, what did they think that I went there to do? And why would I want to be bad at the zoo? And would I be likely to say if I had?") accompanied by Ernest Shepard's great pen and ink drawings (check out his picture of Jane trying to climb into the bears' cage in the zoo). Kids of all ages (and yes, that includes old coots over 30 like you and me) love reading and listening to the poems in this book. Highly recommended.

I'm buying this book now for my daughter. I still remember many of the poems from when I was growing up, and I hear my Mom's voice as I read them.