The Collaborative work of E. H. Shepard and A. A. Milne

Hello Friends,

Today I want to share with you a snapshot into the lives of children’s book illustrator, E. H. Shepard, and writer, A. A. Milne, from the fascinating book I’ve been reading called, “The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh, A Walk Through the Forest that Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood,” by Kathryn Aalto.

E. H. Shepard’s mother was Harriet Jessie Lee. She had grown up with an artist father. Therefore, she encouraged her son’s interest in drawing by providing notebooks and pencils for him to carry with him wherever he went. Kathryn Aalto says on page 57, “Through time, he developed a photographic memory for drawing scenes, events, and gestures.”

Shepard experienced a happy childhood with his parents and two older siblings until he was eleven. But Aalto says on page 58, “One day his mother, bedridden for months, bid the children a cheery goodbye for what they perhaps thought…