3 Review(s)

The Wind in the Willows is a book of linked animal tales that began as a series of bedtime stories and was published in 1908. It is beautifully written with evocative descriptions of the countryside interspersed with exciting adventures and became a classic of English children's literature. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters--principally Mole, Rat, Badger, and Toad--in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie and is celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames Valley. It has two separate actions going on. There are chapters dealing with the adventures of Toad, and chapters that explore human emotions like fear, awe, and nostalgia.