When We Were Very Young & Now We Are Six

 

Image credit: Goodreads

I used to read a fair amount as a child and then I completely stopped all through high school. All through those informative years, I think I only read 2 books in their entirety. I didn’t get back into the joy of reading until I was eighteen and I got a really, really bad flu. The day I got it, the only other person who could open the store where I worked flew off on their honeymoon, so I was coming in to work until my second person arrived and relieved me. I remember it being so bad that I couldn’t watch TV, the light and colour would just add to the headaches and nausea, so I picked up my dad’s copy of The Fellowship of the Ring and began to read. And continued to read. And continued to read. And I have no stopped reading since.

I share this little anecdote because I am reminded of it right now, day five into my first bout of COVID. While I’m lucky and grateful that I can recover at home, I’m not going to lie, it’s horrible! But the silver lining is that it has given me the opportunity to revert back to being a sick child and getting lost in the magic world of books. Seeing as my head’s filled with cotton right now, I’ve decided to take it really easy and read classic children’s poetry: When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne. 

Image credit: Wikipedia

These cute little collections are devoted to Milne’s son Christopher Robin. A series of nursery rhymes, as well as the day-to-day adventures of the imaginative and innocent child. Light, sweet, and accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by E. H. Sherpard, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six perfectly depict innocence, creativity, and awe of childhood. The idea that every day can be an adventure, you can say anything silly and it will be taken as adorable and creative rather than judged meanly, and absolutely everything has a hidden life of its own. Milne takes simple ideas like a king asking for butter and turns them into a whole nursery singsong production that tells a sweet and pretty tale. 

The nostalgia and golden age vibes that reading these poems had given me this morning has worked just as well as ginger tea and butter menthols in soothing my discomfort and transporting me to a place of calm and warm. 

Author: A. A. Milne, 1924 & 1927

Published: Methuen & Co Ltd (Great Britain), 1924 & 1927