Tales from the Forest

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) was born in England. He studied at Cambridge but left school in 1903 to write, soon supporting himself on his earnings as an editor at Punch magazine and as a playwright. His son Christopher Robin Milne was born in 1920. Christopher’s toy bear, pig, donkey, tiger, and kangaroo inspired the famous Pooh books. Milne also wrote plays, a novel, his autobiography, and political nonfiction, although he is best remembered for Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young, and Now We Are Six.

Ernest H. Shepard (1879-1976) was born in England. Shepard won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools, and, after graduating, supported himself by drawing for illustrated papers and books. He became a regular contributor to Punch magazine, where he met A. A. Milne. While working together, Shepard agreed to do the illustrations for Milne’s first book of verse, When We Were Very Young. Shepard’s witty and loving illustrations of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood have become an inseparable part of the Pooh stories, and they have become classics in their own right.