Our Book Club selection for April was Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus.
I chose Return to the Hundred Acre Wood for 0ur April Book Club selection because I was really in need of a fun, fluffy read after a very busy and stressful time at the office. I don’t know if I really got what I was expecting out of this one, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all. There are no discussion questions available for this book (I assume that’s because kids books aren’t usually used for book clubs!) so you guys are going to have to work with these questions that I’ve come up with!
As always, we encourage veering off topic, so please feel free to bring up anything you would like to discuss about the book!
Here are our discussion questions for Return to the Hundred Acre Wood:
- Did you enjoy Return to the Hundred Acre Wood? What did you like? What didn’t you like?
- Are you familiar with A.A. Milne’s Classic Pooh stories? How do you feel this new volume compares to the original stories?
- The book was borken down into 10 short stories, listed as chapters. Which was your favorite story/chapter? Which was your least favorite?
- Would you recommend/read Return to the Hundred Acre Wood to a youngster in your life? What about to another adult?
- Since we’re talking about children’s stories, what are some of your favorite kids books that you feel are comparable to (or better than) Return to the Hundred Acre Wood?
- What are your thoughts on the new character Lottie the Otter?
- Do you believe Return to the Hundred Acre Wood will become a classic?
Don’t forget, our top commenters on this discussion will receive a classic Winnie-the-Pooh bookmark! So be sure to stop by and share your thoughts!
1. To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy Return to the Hundred Acre wood. It’s not like I hated it or anything, but I found it kind of boring. I wasn’t expecting a great plot (kids books are never big on plot), but I was hoping it would be a little more… fun. I suppose I may just be too old, but I can still enjoy a good children’s story when I read it to one of my nieces or nephews.
I will say I adore the look of the book. The paper is heavy and bright white, the drawings throughout are gorgeous and it just feels like a book that’s meant to last and be passed on.
2. Oddly enough when I selected this book for the book club, I wasn’t familiar with the Classic Pooh stories (I’ve been raised by Disney!) but I was babysitting my niece and she brought “Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One” as one of her bedtime stories. So, I got to read the first part of the story, but my niece has started “reading” to you, so she took the book and made up an ending for me. I never did get to read the whole story, but the fact that I am still curious about the ending leads me to believe that it would have been more captivating than the new volume.
3. I think chapter 9 In which Tigger dreams of Africa was my favourite. Maybe it was just not enough Tigger in the other chapters causing me not to love the stories as much, because I really liked this one. I loved Tigger and Roo’s game with the atlas, and I loved the fake Africa they made for Tigger when he was sick.
I also liked chapter 7 In which everybody learns something. It makes me laugh how wrong all the animals are in just about everything they know.
I was not so fond of the chapter where they all played cricket. Although I did really like Pooh’s humm in that one.
4. One of the reasons I bought Return to the Hundred Acre Wood was so I had some suitable books on hand to read to my young nieces and nephews. (Well, that and the fact that I was sucked in by its gorgeousness!) The last time my nephews stayed over they were very disappointed in my selection of kids books, so I’m working on adding a few good ones to my library. The oldest is now reading on his own, so RttHAW is just perfect for him to attempt on his own, and the younger ones are still young enough to enjoy having it read to them.
So, overall even though it may not have been a hit with me, I think the youngsters in my life will enjoy it.
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