The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Grahame

Jan 1908 · Scribner

About this ebook

Since its publication in 1908, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows has enchanted readers, young and old. This new edition, sensitively abridged and exquisitely illustrated by Inga Moore, is sure to win over a new generation of fans. Here readers will meet the amiable Mole, his hearty friend the Water Rat, the genial Badger, and, of course, the irrepressible Mr. Toad, and enjoy some of the most memorable adventures in children's literature. Classic, yet accessible, and full of humor, this beautiful volume is the perfect addition to every family's bookshelf. Book jacket.

Ratings and reviews

Lovely book to lose yourself into a world of old Englishness and how simple life could be. I felt that there were too many tangents from the main story and I found myself rushing through those chapters to get back to the main story. Never seen the word 'presently' written so much...

Four animal friends and their adventures. As a child my favourite book. In fact still love it so was very disappointed for this copy to end way before the book should have.

I remember from my childhood a TV series with still images based on the book. I retained for years a mental picture of the four friends sitting down to a luncheon with their coats and hats. This reading made those images move. It was a lovely experience.

About the author

Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh on March 3, 1859. When he was five years old, his mother died of scarlet fever and he nearly died himself, of the same disease. His father became an alcoholic and sent the children to Berkshire to live with relatives. They were later reunited with their father, but after a failed year, the children never heard from him again. Sometime later, one of his brothers died at the age of fifteen. He attended St. Edward's School as a child and intended to go on to Oxford University, but his relatives wanted him to go into banking. He worked in his uncle's office, in Westminster, for two years then went to work at the Bank of England as a clerk in 1879. He spent nearly thirty years there and became the Secretary of the Bank at the age of thirty-nine. He retired from the bank right before The Wind in the Willows was published in 1908. He wrote essays on topics that included smoking, walking and idleness. Many of the essays were published as the book Pagan Papers (1893) and the five orphan characters featured in the papers were developed into the books The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1898). The Wind in the Willows (1908) was based on bedtime stories and letters to his son and it is where the characters Rat, Badger, Mole and Toad were created. In 1930, Milne's stage version was brought to another audience in Toad of Toad Hall. Grahame died on July 6, 1932.