The Pooh Dictionary (by AR Melrose)

I have been a fan of Winne-the-Pooh, AA Milne’s classic creation, since I was a small child. I listened to some of the stories on records, and of course read the two books (as well as his poems) several times during my childhood and teens. I read them to my sons, too; the characters were popularised by Disney, but I much preferred the original stories, with their tongue-in-cheek humour, and wonderful characterisation.

But I had no idea, until a few weeks ago, that there was a Pooh dictionary. I spotted it on a church bookstall, opened it at random in a couple of places, and knew I had to have it. In hardback edition, it looks very like my copies of the books themselves.

It’s not really a book to read through, but I decided to do so anyway, at least for the first time. It’s more an encyclopedia than a dictionary; arranged in alphabetical order it lists words and phrases from the two books, with cross-references, and (in many cases) quotations from one of the two books about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends. It’s many years since I read them in their entirety; I did read a couple of the stories to my grandson two years ago, but chose ones I remembered that I thought he would like.

AR Melrose is apparently a fairly prolific writer, although I can’t find much about him other than that he has published other books about Pooh, Perhaps he uses a pseudonym. In any case, this book is beautifully produced, meticulously compiled, and with the kind of humour in which AA Milne was such an expert. It's beautifully illustrated with a selection of the original Ernest H Shepard drawings.

There’s an introduction and a ‘how to use the book’ which are written in the style of the Pooh books and then we launch straight into the A section.  I will quote just one typical entry of the dictionary, to give a brief flavour:

Accident, noun: 1. Any event that unexpectedly happens so as to cause you to feel not totally quite on top of things. 2 a form of watery transportation in which you are underneath it (whereas if it is underneath you, then it is called a boat).

This is followed by two relevant quotations, one from ‘The House at Pooh Corner’, and one from ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’) and the entry concludes with:

 see also: Boat; Floating Bear; Umbrella and Very Bad Accident.

It would have been very tempting to follow the ‘see also’ links and jump around the book following chains, but I realised that might well lead to me missing some parts entirely. I may do that in future when I dip into the book, but I’m so glad I read it straight through the first time. It’s full of gems which any fans of AA Milne’s writing are bound to appreciate.

I’m delighted that ‘The Pooh Dictionary’ is the first book I’ve read in this new year - indeed, a new decade - and would recommend it heartily to anyone who has the Winnie-the-Pooh books on their shelves. It’s more for adults than the children for whom the books were intended, having read it, I hope to re-read the books for myself and re-acquaint myself with the stories that I don’t recall too well.

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