In 1962, children’s writer Roger Lancelyn Green coined the phrase ‘The Golden Age of Children’s Books’. A. A. Milne’s two Winnie-the-Pooh books, published in 1926 and 1928, which were so beautifully illustrated by artist and book illustrator E. H. Shepard, fall into this category.

Milne was clearly motivated to compose his Winnie-the-Pooh stories in order to entertain his young son. However, Christopher Robin came to resent the fact that his father had used his real first names as the names of Pooh’s owner in the books.

Was there a deeper reason why Milne created Winnie-the-Pooh? Possibly yes. The author had served as a soldier in the First World War, and by creating Pooh and his ‘Hundred Acre Wood’, he had created a world into which he could withdraw whenever he chose, and thereby mitigate the post-traumatic stress disorder which all military combatants suffer, to a greater or lesser degree. The same applied to Shepard, who also served in that conflict.

Having been given the Pooh books as a child, I re-read them as an adult and laughed just as uproariously as I had done all those years ago. Up until then, it had never occurred to me to enquire about their author A. A. Milne and about their illustrator E. H. Shepard. I now decided that it was time to put matters right!

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Family Tree
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Roger Lancelyn Green and the ‘Golden Age’ of Children’s Books
• Chapter 2 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the Dawn of the ‘Golden Age’ of Children’s Books
• Chapter 3 Some Male Authors from the ‘Golden Age’ of Children’s Books
• Chapter 4 Some Female Authors from the ‘Golden Age’ of Children’s Books
• Chapter 5 The Aforementioned ‘Golden Age’ Authors Compared
• Chapter 6 A. A. Milne (born 18 January 1882)
• Chapter 7 Cricket
• Chapter 8 A. A. Milne and Punch Magazine
• Chapter 9 The First World War (1914-1918): Milne Enlists
• Chapter 10 Types of Signalling Equipment
• Chapter 11 The Task of the Signaller
• Chapter 12 Milne Goes Into Action
• Chapter 13 MI7b: The Green Book
• Chapter 14 The War Ends
• Chapter 15 Milne and the First World War: Shell Shock
• Chapter 16 Christopher Robin Milne (born 21 August 1920)
• Chapter 17 More About Christopher and His Father Alan
• Chapter 18 Christopher and His Mother Dorothy (‘Daphne’)
• Chapter 19 What Motivated Milne to Write?
• Chapter 20 Milne and Shepard Meet (Autumn 1923): E. V. Lucas - The Catalyst
• Chapter 21 More About E. H. Shepard
• Chapter 22 E. H. Shepard and the First World War (1914-1918)
• Chapter 23 Shepard’s brother Cyril and the Folly of War
• Chapter 24 E. V. Lucas and the First World War
• Chapter 25 E. H. Shepard and the Lost Wartime Sketches
• Chapter 26 ‘Pooh’ and ‘Christopher Robin’ Make Their Debut
• Chapter 27 Enter E. H. Shepard, and ‘Pooh’ and ‘Christopher Robin’ Come to Life!
• Chapter 28 The Characters and Their Locations
• Chapter 29 Success, But at What Cost?
• Chapter 30 From Milne’s Perspective
• Chapter 31 Aftermath
• Chapter 32 The Second World War (1939-1945)
• Chapter 33 Clare Milne (born June 1956)
• Chapter 34 The Clare Milne Trust
• Chapter 35 Christopher Milne: A Reluctant Celebrity
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• By the same author
• Plates