GRAPHIC NOVEL ADAPTATION. Winnie the Pooh: The Graphic Novel Adaptation. A.A. Milne. Illustrated by Travis Dandro. 2024. 248 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars]

First sentence: That buzzing noise means something. You don't get a buzzing noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something. If there's a buzzing noise somebody's making a buzzing noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing noise that I know of is because you're a bee and the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey and the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it.

This is a graphic novel adaptation of A.A. Milne's classic Winnie the Pooh. The original, I believe, has always had *some* illustrations. Now it gets the graphic novel treatment. The dialogue remains much as it always was. Though I haven't read the original in a few years so I cannot say with one hundred percent certainty that all of the dialogue has made the transition. I only noticed a few additions to the text. Notably, the bees get some dialogue which is adorable. This is just the first book, so NO Tigger.

For me the first and second books blend together into "The World of Pooh" (quite literally that is the omnibus edition I grew up with). These illustrations are not exactly like the original OR like Disney. I thought most characters were illustrated fairly well. The only one I did NOT care for was Rabbit. But I did appreciate revisiting the book, the characters, and the HUMS. ( )

Public Domain Pooh!

I thought that as soon as Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain some comic book publisher would quickly put out a straight-up Pooh graphic novel adaptation. Two years down the road, while there have been a couple comic series taking Pooh into dark fantasy realms, this is the very first time I have found A. A. Milne's original stories reinterpreted in comic book form. And, boy, was it worth the wait!

Travis Dandro masterfully brings Milne's witty dialogue to life in delightful layouts with expert pacing. He rightly ditches much of the Milne's narration, showing us the story instead of letting his pages become burdened by giant blocks of text. He also pays homage to E. H. Shepard by including the images we all remember from the original books amidst his own original illustrations.

Sure, I could quibble about Dandro's art style and word choices here and there, but I'm so happy to finally have a true Pooh graphic novel that tells all the stories from the first book. I dearly hope Dandro is working on an adaptation of The House at Pooh Corner. I can't wait to see what he does with Tigger.

(Pooh Project: Phase 2! I've managed to catalog all the shorter Pooh books my family owns (see the list here). While I work through few remaining longer Pooh books we own, I'm missing my daily dose of Pooh, so I'm going to start seeking out some of the Pooh books I don't own – yet – from libraries IRL and online. See the reviews here.) ( )