Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book Winnie–the–Pooh. He is a young kangaroo and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy animal that belonged to Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne, though stuffed Roo was lost in the 1930s in an apple orchard somewhere in Sussex. Roo participates in the adventures of a teddy bear called Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Piglet, a small toy pig; Eeyore, a toy donkey; Owl, a live owl; Rabbit, a live rabbit; and Christopher Robin, a human boy. Roo is introduced in the chapter entitled "In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest and Piglet has a Bath." Roo's friend Tigger does not appear until the sequel, The House at Pooh Corner. He would subsequently appear in various cartoons and other adaptations.
Profile
Roo is a young kangaroo, or joey. His mother is called Kanga. The New York Times has noted that inquiring about the fate of Roo's father is one of many questions that could be asked, such as "Where are Pooh's pants?" Because of his young age, Roo is a very small animal, the smallest in the story, although he must be very close in size to Piglet since Kanga is unable to tell the difference when Piglet jumps into her pouch instead of Roo. He is also apparently small enough to fall down mouse holes while practicing jumps, and too small to reach the first rail of the Poohsticks bridge. Like most of the characters in Winnie-the Pooh, Roo was based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed toys. The illustrations show Roo with brown fur and an upturned tail. Roo and Kanga come to the Forest "in the usual way" in Chapter VII of Winnie–the–Pooh. He also appears in Chapter VIII, is mentioned in Chapter IX, and appears again in Chapter X of that book. In The House at Pooh Corner, Roo appears in chapters II, IV, VI, VII, IX, and X, and is mentioned in a few others. Some of the adventures that Roo experiences include being "kidnapped" by Rabbit, accompanying the "expotition" to the North Pole, attending Christopher Robin's party for Pooh, getting stuck in a tree with Tigger, and playing Poohsticks. Unlike many of the other characters in the Pooh books, Roo does not have a known favorite food, although his mother makes him watercress sandwiches on occasion. He dislikes the extract of malt that his mother gives him as "strengthening medicine" after meals, though he will reluctantly take it. Some of Roo's friends include Tigger, Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl, and Christopher Robin.
Adaptations
Roo appears in the Shirley Temple's Storybook episode, played by Louis Jean Norman. Roo also appears in the Disney cartoon versions of the Winnie the Pooh stories. He was originally voiced by Clint Howard. Later performers include Dori Whitaker, Dick Billingsley, Kim Christianson, Nicholas Melody, Nikita Hopkins, Jimmy Bennett, Max Burkholder, and Wyatt Hall. In the cartoons, Roo is the smallest of the regularly appearing characters. He has brown fur and wears a light blue shirt. He often expresses thoughts and feelings that make him seem wiser than his years. In fact, on occasion Roo seems even wiser than many of the older characters. He also states that he's got a mother when he tries to comfort Tigger in The Tigger Movie. Some people think that he puts himself on a purplescarf Piglet has accidentally left in Piglet's Big Movie. Roo also stars in his own movie, Springtime with Roo. Roo becomes good friends with Lumpy the Heffalump in Pooh's Heffalump Movie. Roo appeared as one of the guests in House of Mouse and . Roo made his first live action appearance in the 2018 film Christopher Robin, voiced by Sara Sheen.
The researchers said they are especially worried about baby Roo, who is growing up in a single-parent household and whose closest friend, Tigger, is not a good role model. "We predict we will someday see a delinquent, jaded, adolescent Roo hanging out late at night at the top of the forest, the ground littered with broken bottles of extract of malt and the butts of smoked thistle," the article said.
