An Iowa State student, hand in hand with A.A. Milne’s silly old bear Winnie the Pooh, has created a web site that has received award recognition above and beyond the realm of Christopher Robin’s 100-acre wood.

James Milne, a senior in computer engineering, is the designer of “The Page at Pooh Corner,” a web site dedicated to the history and lore of the “tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff”, as well as author A.A. Milne. His page has earned several awards including Point Communications’ top 5 percent of all web sites and one of “Education World’s” Best of October selections.

Milne started the project last summer and completed the first version in about three months, he said. He continues to update the page approximately every month to add links and new information.

Besides the obvious connection of having the same last name (although James Milne, the student, is of no relation to A.A. Milne, the author) Milne, the student, created the page out of a long-time affection for Pooh.

“I’ve always been kind of a fan, and I happen to know a lot about it. I thought it would be a neat and interesting thing to do.”

The Page at Pooh Corner has turned out to be wildly successful and, Milne said, is the fourth most popular student home page at Iowa State.

“I get about 15,000 to 20,000 hits a month,” he said.

Not all of those who visit the site are students at the university, however. People all over the country have been logging onto the page to learn how Edward Bear came to be called “Winnie the Pooh” or to read about the detailed life of A.A. Milne.

“People like it. A lot of them write me e-mail about where to find more information. A couple of teachers are using it in their classrooms. I correspond regularly with a teacher in Florida who uses it,” Milne said.

Milne found most of his information for the page by researching in the library. His most recent addition to the site will be a history of Christopher Milne, a real-life character known to most readers as Christopher Robin.

Future plans for the Pooh page are yet to be decided, because Milne feels he has taken this project almost as far it can go.

“I’ve always tried to keep my page unique. Mine’s always been the scholastic one. I tell the story behind the stories, and I’m getting to the point where I don’t have that much left to tell,” he said.

To visit “The Page at Pooh Corner,” go to http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jmilne/pooh.html.