Christopher Robin - in The Books

In The Books

Christopher Robin appears in Milne's poems and in the two books: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). In the books he is a young boy who is one of Winnie-the-Pooh's best friends. His other friends are Eeyore, Kanga and Roo, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger. He is characterized by his uneven socks. In the second book, there are hints that Christopher Robin is growing up. In the final chapter, the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood throw him a farewell party after learning that he must leave them soon. It is implied that he is to attend boarding school.

In addition to the two Pooh books, the character was immortalized in other works by A. A. Milne including two books of poems: When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927). An arrangement of one of the poems, Buckingham Palace, was first recorded by Ann Stephens in July 1941. Petula Clark released a recording of it in 1953 to coincide with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and despite neither making the charts, both versions were popular on BBC radio's Children's Favourites programme.

In the 2009 sequel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, it is confirmed that Christopher Robin was at school, but with school being out for the summer, he returns to the forest for a visit with a lot of knowledge to share. Though slightly older, he is still the same person as before and is happy to share more good times with his friends all summer. At the end of the summer, has to leave again for another school year, but the animals know that they will see him again.

Christopher Robin is cheerful, compassionate, adventurous, fun-loving, imaginative and helpful. Despite being a child, he is much wiser and more mature than many of the other characters, and is someone that Pooh and the others look up to. In the book illustrations, his house appears as a hollow tree with a door at the top of the forest.

Christopher Robin was based upon the author A. A. Milne's own son, Christopher Robin Milne, who in later life became unhappy with the use of his name, writing in one of a series of autobiographical works: "It seemed to me almost that my father had got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and left me nothing but empty fame". One of the poems, Vespers – which describes young Christoper Robin saying his evening prayers – was said by Christopher Milne as "the one work that has brought me over the years more toe-curling, fist-clenching, lip-biting embarrassment than any other".