I took this photo of the stuffed animals that belonged to the boy Christopher Robin and became characters in the original Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. They are among the objects on display as part of an exhibition at the New York City central library called THE ABC OF IT. The display considers the history of children's books and stories and attempts to answer the question of why children's books matter. What do they teach children, and what do various books and stories tell us about the societies that produced them? How did the books and stories themselves help to shape the societies? I was surprised to see how dingy the toys had become over the years since they were owned by Christopher Robin as a boy in the 1920's. Pooh was based on the stuffed teddy bear in the photo. Eeyore, the old grey donkey, was also based on the fairly large stuffed animal in the photo presumed to be a donkey. The character of Tigger was based on the stuffed tiger, and Kanga, the female kangaroo, based on the other stuffed animal in the photo. Piglet was apparently suggested by the tiny figurine placed in front of Pooh in the exhibit. It looked like clay to me, a rather pathetic rendering of the character in the Pooh stories that is supposed to be the best friend of both Pooh and Christopher Robin. As I recall, the photo in the picture I snapped is that of A.A. Milne and his son, Christopher Robin. The more modern Pooh cookbooks sound somewhat intriguing. I wouldn't mind trying some of the recipes such as Poohanpiglet Pancakes. Reviewers also lauded the chocolate cake from the WINNIE-THE-POOH TEATIME COOKBOOK.
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