Honey and Honeybees

• It is impossible to think of Pooh without thinking of honey. It is his biggest passion in life. Many of the ill-conceived schemes that land Pooh in so much trouble begin with his desire to acquire honey. Not surprisingly, he has made enemies with the bees that produce his favorite treat. Disney's first Winnie-the-Pooh featurette in 1966 began with Pooh painting himself as "a little black rain cloud" and grabbing hold of a balloon to lift him up to the heights necessary for honey retrieval. He was successful until actual raindrops began to fall on him, washing away his paint and revealing his true identity to the bees. A nasty chase ensued.
  
  

The Hundred Acre Wood

• Pooh and his friends live in the Hundred Acre Wood, often referred to in Milne's original telling as "the enchanted place." The author based the location on the real Five Hundred Acres Wood of Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England, where he owned a vacation home. E.H. Shepard, the illustrator whose drawings accompanied Milne's first Pooh books, based his sketches on the actual Five Hundred Acre Wood, and he replicated perfectly many topographical features of the woods in his drawings. Though the world of Winnie-the-Pooh has changed a little over the years, he and his friends have never lived anywhere but the Hundred Acre Wood. Milne's reference to them as "the enchanted place" has always given the impression that, for the literary Christopher Robin, the location is more a state of mind than a physical location.
  
  

Friendship

• The central theme of all Winnie-the-Pooh stories is the importance of friendship, most notably that of Pooh and Christopher Robin. However, the relationship of Pooh to other characters is the focus of many stories, as well. The timid Piglet is Pooh's other best friend. Stories often end with a reflective moment between Pooh and either Christopher Robin or Piglet. Other prominent residents of the Wood include the boisterous Tigger, who bounces everywhere he goes and often greets friends by pouncing on them, the motherly Kanga and her son Roo, and gloomy donkey Eeyore, who is always losing his tail. Stuffed animals belonging to the author's son inspired all of these characters. Milne added the characters Owl and Rabbit to the stories, and Disney later added the character Gopher. Most Pooh stories ultimately focus on the benefits of having ardent friends. No character ever faces a problem or "spook" alone, or celebrates a birthday by himself.
  
  

Youth, Innocence and Naivete

• The first publication of a Winnie-the-Pooh story was a poem called "Teddy Bear" included in Milne's 1924 collection of poetry called "Now We Are Six." Stories devoted entirely to Pooh followed soon after. Since that time, the stories and characters have represented innocence and childlike imagination. Though adults who never outgrew the characters they first loved as children still love the stories, kids have always been Pooh's first-intended audience. Certain characters have always been written as naive or innocent, most notably Pooh, who often refers to himself as "a bear of very little brain." Ironically, Christopher Robin, one of only two actual children in the stories, is often the wisest and most adult-like among the characters. Milne's last Pooh story ends with young Christopher Robin beginning to realize he will one day outgrow his friendship with Pooh, which he does not have the heart to explain to Pooh who is talking about the lifetime of adventures he expects them to continue to have.