Winnie-the-Pooh

The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, 1928.

This is the last book in the original Winnie-the-Pooh series. Although other authors later wrote other stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends, at the end of this book, Christopher Robin goes away to school and has to leave his toys and animal friends behind. It’s implied that his friends will continue to live and play in the woods without him and that they’ll all continue to be friends, but the ending is a little bittersweet because Christopher Robin realizes that he’s growing up and that things are going to be changing.

Each chapter in the book is its own short story. I didn’t read the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories when I was a child, but I was already familiar with many of the stories in this book from the cartoon versions that I saw on tv when I was young. I still think of the Pooh Sticks game whenever I cross a foot bridge (although, living in Arizona, few of the ones I cross have water under them). I also still joke about what Tiggers like best from time to time. (Tiggers apparently like everything best until they actually try it, and then they discover that they don’t really like it at all, not unlike the way my dog feels when she begs for food I’m eating that she wouldn’t really like if she actually got some.)

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

Chapters:

Ch. 1: In Which a House is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore

On a snowy day, Pooh gets the idea of building a house for Eeyore because he’s the only one who doesn’t have a house. However, Eeyore had built a house for himself, and strangely, it has disappeared. When Eeyore gets Christopher Robin to help him investigate, they realize that Pooh and Piglet have mistakenly taken the materials Eeyore used for his house and used them to build a new house for Eeyore in a different location. But, the new location is better because Pooh and Piglet built the new house in a warmer part of the woods, and they did a better building job. Eeyore thinks that the wind blew it to its new spot, and the others let him think that.

Ch. 2: In Which Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast

Pooh is woken up suddenly in the night by a strange noise. It’s Tigger, a very bouncy kind of tiger. They’ve never met before because he’s new to the woods, but Tigger knows Christopher Robin, so Pooh invites him to breakfast in the morning. However, Tigger doesn’t like the honey that Pooh serves for breakfast, so they go to see Piglet to see if Tigger likes acorns for breakfast. However, Tigger decides he doesn’t like those, either. They continue visiting friends to find things that Tigger will like. They finally find something Tigger likes when Tigger samples little Roo’s medicine, extract of malt, so Tigger decides that he will live with Kanga and Roo.

Ch. 3: In Which A Search is Organized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump Again

Rabbit tells Pooh that he is organizing a search and tells him where to search without telling him what they’re supposed to be searching for. Confused, Pooh decides to look for Piglet to ask him what they’re supposed to be searching for. It turns out that Piglet has accidentally fallen down a hole, and Pooh falls into the same hole while looking for him. Pooh remembers that they dug holes like that as traps for Heffalumps, and they worry that they’re in a trap that the Heffalumps set for them. Fortunately, they accidentally find the person Rabbit was originally looking for.

Ch. 4: In Which It Is Shown that Tiggers Don’t Climb Trees

Tigger brags about all the things that Tiggers are good at doing, but it turns out that they’re not as good at climbing trees as he claims. Tigger and Roo get stuck in a tree, and the others have to help them get down.

Ch. 5: In Which Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings

Rabbit finds a note from Christopher Robin, but he has trouble reading it and figuring out what it means. Rabbit tries to figure out what Christopher Robin does every morning, and Eeyore tries to explain education to Piglet.

Ch. 6: In Which Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In

Pooh invents a game that involves tossing pine cones and sticks into the river next to a bridge and seeing which of them is the first to come out the other side of the bridge. While he and his friends are doing that, they find Eeyore floating on his back down the river because Tigger bounced him in. The others have to figure out how to rescue him.

Ch. 7: In Which Tigger is Unbounced

Rabbit has decided that Tigger’s bouncing has gotten out of control and that he needs to be taught a lesson. He tells Pooh and Piglet that they should take Tigger to a part of the woods he hasn’t been before, get him lost, and leave him there for awhile. Rabbit’s reasoning is that they can then rescue Tigger, and Tigger will be so grateful to them for rescuing him that he won’t be so bouncy. Pooh and Piglet have doubts about this plan, but they agree to help Rabbit. However, it turns out that Tigger’s don’t get lost, but Rabbit does, and Rabbit turns out to be the one who is grateful for a rescue.

Ch. 8: In Which Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing

One very windy Thursday, Pooh and Piglet decide to go around and visit their friends, wish them a happy Thursday, and have snacks with them. While they are visiting Owl, Owl’s tree falls over because of the wind. When the tree crashes, they’re trapped inside, and they have to figure out how to get out. Their plan requires Piglet doing something brave, which isn’t easy for such a small, timid animal.

Ch. 9: In Which Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It

With Owl’s tree down, Owl has to find a new place to live. Eeyore thinks that he’s found the perfect place: Piglet’s house. It’s a great house, but with Owl living there, where will Piglet live? Pooh says if Piglet’s house had fallen down, Piglet would come and live with him, so that’s what he can do now. Piglet is happy about living with his friend Pooh, so he decides that it’s okay for Owl to live in his house.

Ch. 10: In Which Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There

All of the animals know that Christopher Robin is going away somewhere soon, although they’re not quite sure where he’s going and why. The story doesn’t exactly say it,but it’s implied that Christopher Robin is going away to boarding school. All of the animals say goodbye to him, and Eeyore writes a poem for the occasion. Christopher Robin and Pooh have a quiet walk and talk together. While Christopher Robin realizes that he’s growing up and things are going to be changing, the two of them agree that they’ll never forget each other, no matter how old they get. They’ll always have their favorite place and continue to go there, and some part of them will always be playing together.