Review (PDF)

When We Were Very Young

Verses full of bubbling nonsense and rhythm, written for the author's son, Christopher Robin. It is for "very small children (and for their elders who get a surreptitious joy from what is meant for their little ones)."" -- Sunday Review, 1924

Lexile Measure: NP (What's this?)

Paperback: 112 pages

Publisher: Puffin Books; Reissue edition (August 1, 1992)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0140361235

ISBN-13: 978-0140361230

Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.3 x 7.8 inches

Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #43,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #38 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Poetry #99 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European #648 in Books > Children's Books > Classics

Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Grade Level: 3 - 7

My father died 10 years ago when I was nineteen. I know he used to read "when we were very young" to me when I was a child, but it wasn't until I began to read the poems as bedtime stories to my 2 year old, that I began to remember my dad's emphasis and inflections. As I read my favourites to my son, I can almost hear Dad reading them to me.I am thrilled that my son asks for Christopher Robin as his bedtime stories and "Hoppity" and "Market Square" have become his favourites too. He is an avid reader and I am just beginning to introduce him to poetry, what better way than A A Milne - It makes me feel like a child again and connects a grandson and a grandfather who never met each other.

Like "A Child's Garden of Verses," the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, A.A. Milnes' "When We Were Very Young," collects and reminds us of childhood bliss. However, unlike Stevenson, Milne has the whimsy of Edward Lear's limericks and verse. Milne captures the joy and gentleness of youth.For example, Milne has a poem with a refrain:Jonathon Johas a mouth like an 'O'It is fun to say, and it almost means something. Another poem talks about halfway up and down the stairs, getting a child to see the difference and sameness of the situation, great for critical thinking.If you want pure silly humor, go buy Silverstein, but for great writing and solid bedtime reading to teach your child wit and poetry, buy this tiny book. There's a good chance you will like it as well.Anthony Trendl[...]

Forget the smoke-filled coffee shop, the microphone on the podium and the beatnicks huddled around their coffees. The real test of a reader's poetic prowess is A.A. Milne, the living room couch and a handful of kids waiting for your renderings of growling bears and timelessl human characters.It takes an extraordinary book to capture children's attention on the strength of words alone.It's not that there are no illustrations here, just that each poem has just one or two small, original ink drawings; delightful, but bowing appropriately to the genius of words that can hold children spellbound. For instance, Milne takes a subject like sidewalks and transforms it into the stuff of playacting in Lines and Squares - an irresistible cadence to chant on a walk (or a lumbering gait):And the masses of bearsWho wait at the corners all ready to eat the sillies who tread on the lines of the streetAnd I say to them, "BEARS.....Just look how I'm walking in ALL of the squares!"As I read I can now recall the precise inflection and finger-shaking combination from Disobedience that it took to elicit giggles from my sisters and me, now working its comedy on my four-year-old son:James James SAID to his mother, "Mother", he said, said he;"You Must Never Go Down To The End Of Town If You Don't Go Down With ME!"When We Were Very Young is a collection of poems for children, about childhood, and for those who wish to remember its special magic view on the world. This book is a beloved tradition in my family, starting with those cozy evenings on my Grandmother's couch as we all snuggled up to hear about the brownie that lives behind the curtain, Jonathan Jo (who had a mouth like an O), the three foxes and Christopher Robin, who couldn't stop his hoppity hop. Your family is sure to find its own traditions in reading these poems to each other, young and old alike.

A.A. Milne's early classic, WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG, reads like a literary fountain of youth. It's a short little book aimed most likely at those who are not old enough to read and probably only barely old enough to be read to. Yet fans of A.A. Milne (there are far more adult fans than young fans) as well as lovers of English verse will fall in love with this little book. It contains 44 poems, all of which are fun and simple. The illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard provide wonderful compliments to each poem. This is the perfect introduction to A.A. Milne.

When I was a little boy, my father would read these poems to me. I still have my heavily-battered copy, and every time I look through it, I am overwhelmed with fond memories. The poems in this book are often very simple, but all are very sweet, and Ernest Shepard's illustrations perfectly complement the poems. Every child should have a copy of this book.

Re-reading the poems in this volume takes me back to when I was very young, and fast-forwards to me reading them to my son when he was three or four. A.A. Milne's timeless verses stay with us long after other childhood books have been forgotten. Every child has his or her own favorites; I remember my son especially loved listening to "James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree", "The King's Breakfast" (The King asked the Queen and the Queen asked the Dairymaid: "Could we have some butter for the Royal slice of bread?"), and Emmeline, who slipped off in a snit when someone told her her hands weren't clean. Ernest Shepard's simple pen and ink drawings are a nice compliment to the poems. Reading these poems to your youngsters is sure to be the start (or the continuation) of a family tradition.

The A.A. Milne songs I'm looking for have nothing to do with the Disney version and are much better than the Disney tunes. Published by EP Dutton in 1961 the music is by H. Fraser-Simson, and the book contains the Hums of Pooh, the King's Breakfast, and Fourteen Songs from When We Were Very Young. Although very singable with children these songs are worthy of a spot on a lieder program. The "Cottleston Pie" and "Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear" -- well, after you have heard them you won't be able to say them, you will have to sing them.

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