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Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. I'm assuming the book doesn't need a lot of introduction. Winnie-the-Pooh is a bear that likes honey. He and his friends, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Christopher Robin have adventures in a forest.
This book is, I guess, targeted at an even younger audience than my earlier nomination, The Wind in the Willows. The stories, characters and prose are all even simpler, more ... childish, is probably the most suitable word. It is a book designed to be read aloud to your children.
So how does such a book make it onto this list? One word covers it: Joy.
We avid readers here on this list are used to books that enthral us, that frighten us, that intrigue us, that make us cry or make us laugh. We are used to books full of conflict and mystery and depth. But how often do we pick up something that clearly and simply expresses heartfelt joy? That is the wonder of Winnie-the-Pooh.
There is something in the prose of A.A. Milne that I find very appealing. It's like listening to someone telling you the story, someone with a constant quiet smile on their face that is infectious in its intensity. Winnie-the-Pooh expresses the simple joy of childhood. I can't pick it up without thinking that I am watching Christopher Robin with his toys (the illustrations by E.H. Shephard in my copy make a perfect accompaniment).
Feeling depressed? Put aside all your notions of grown-up and pick up Winnie-the-Pooh.*
My personal reaction to the book might not, on its own, have convinced me to nominate it. But the ongoing popularity of the book and its characters has convinced me that it is an important part of the decade, and the century.
* I was going to say that it doesn't matter what age you are, but that's not entirely true. There is a certain age, that I think most of us go through, where such simple children's stories seem beneath us. But gather a bit more age, and a bit more experience, and you see that complexity, conflict, mystery and misery abound - they are commonplace things. In this light it becomes apparent what is so rare and special in a book like this one.
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