Why We Still Love Winnie-the-Pooh 100 Years Later

Published: December 23, 2025

By India McCarty

Get ready to wish this beloved cartoon character a happy birthday — Winnie-the-Pooh is turning 100!

“Believe it or not, Winnie-the-Pooh is turning 100 this year, and I think many kids of my generation, and previous generations, look back on Pooh and his friends fondly,” writer Elisabeth Sherman wrote in an essay for Parents. “I cherished my visits to the warmth and comfort of the Hundred Acre Wood, where I was surrounded by my friends. But there was more to my love of Pooh than that.”

She explained that, unlike many other children’s fairytales that feature villains and scary situations, Winnie-the-Pooh’s stories contain “one of the few storybook worlds that is truly child-friendly.”

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LIFE Magazine put together a special issue on the cartoon bear’s centennial celebration, including an essay from Kostya Kennedy on Winnie-the-Pooh’s impact.

“Good feelings bloom throughout the Hundred Acre Wood, feelings of comfort and ease and the possibility of a happy surprise,” Kennedy explained. “Problems don’t turn out to be such serious problems after all. Potential crises never quite materialize. Nothing really seems that bad.”

She continued, “Above all, in the pages of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, there’s an overriding sense — the threat of running into a Heffalump notwithstanding — of being protected and safe. Is there a child of any age, 2 to 102, who doesn’t want that?”

Author Gyles Brandreth, who wrote Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: A.A. Milne and the Creation of ‘Winnie-the-Pooh,’ recently spoke to Publisher’s Weekly about Milne’s legacy.

“He was a shy person, but also a gregarious person at the same time. He was quite buttoned-up. He didn’t give a lot of himself away. And yet he was a great observer and could write brilliantly about people,” Brandreth explained. “He believed that pure happiness is only available when you are a child.”

He also touched on the stories’ enduring popularity, explaining that they’re set in “a place of sunshine where there is no darkness.”

“Because they’re beautifully written, they work for adults as well as children,” Brandreth continued. “Though the characters are toys — a teddy bear, a toy kangaroo, a toy donkey — they have human characteristics that we all recognize. Everybody knows a Tigger. Everybody knows an Eeyore. These books provide a passport to the pure happiness of childhood.”

As the world celebrates Winnie-the-Pooh’s 100th birthday, people around the world are looking back fondly on their own childhood memories of the beloved bear.

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