When Winnie-the-Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit’s doorway after eating too much for elevenses, he is anxious and gloomy at the thought of having to forgo food for a whole week to get out. He asks Christopher Robin to read him “a Sustaining Book, such as would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness”.
AA Milne’s first children’s novel, Winnie-the-Pooh, does not exactly explain what a “Sustaining Book” is. But EH Shepard’s illustration provides some clue. Christopher Robin is shown reading an alphabet book with the word JAM for J visible on the page.
Jam is not Pooh’s favourite food, of course, but the word is more than apt. Pooh is in a jam, but being read to sustains him in his difficult situation by bringing him comfort. The book acts as “an aid in the crisis”, as former teacher Ethel Newell noted in a study of bibliotherapy for children in 1957.
Dating back to the early 19th century, bibliotherapy is a therapeutic approach that fosters reading books and other forms of literature to support mental well-being and healing.
This year marks the centenary of the first Winnie-the-Pooh book. Milne based the timeless tales on the nursery toys and games of his son, Christopher Robin – the boy who lives...
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