When We Were Very Young

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When We Were Very Young is a book by A. A. Milne containing forty-four poems. It was first published in 1924, and was illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Several of the verses were set to music by Harold Fraser-Simpson. The book begins with an introduction entitled Just Before We Begin which in part tells the reader to imagine for themselves who the narrator is, and that it might be Christopher Robin. The thirty-eighth poem in the book, Teddy Bear, that originally appeared in the Punch magazine in 1924 was the first appearance of the famous character Winnie-the-Pooh. In one of the illustrations of Teddy Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh is shown wearing a shirt which was later coloured red when reproduced on a recording produced by Stephen Slesinger. This has become his standard appearance in the Disney adaptations.