The Wind in the Willows is a delight. Like every good classic, it’s worth rereading, both for the enjoyment it brings and the new insights previously hidden or overlooked. It speaks to the reader differently in different stages of life, but to any reader at any stage it says, “Here is a delight for those who have had adventure enough, who have had the strength to live a quiet life, who relish old friendships, and whose lines are set in cultivated gardens.” I laughed at the many antics of Toad, and, like the caroling mice who warmed themselves with the food and drink at Mole’s humble dwelling, my heart too was warmed.

Though female characters are almost completely nonexistent in this story, I find myself enjoying this book all over again; this could easily be the fourth time I've read this book. There is a certain comfortable, uncomplicated rural Britishness about this story. With all its class divisions and expectations firmly in place, and not questioned at all....
Dear Mole and Rat boating along the river on a lazy summer afternoon, Badger's stern, codgery self, and absolutely unrepentantly silly and vain Toad stealing cars entertained me and had me wishing a little that I could visit Mole's tidy and well laid out little home, listen to one of Rat's poems, and have breakfast at Badger's warm, comfortable and wonderful home in the Forest; (Badger's home also felt to me like it was a model for Tolkien's Bag End.)
I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the audio from Librivox.

Reread in audio. A book I wish I could hug. Visiting these old friends is always a joy and as an adult I love the wilder chapters where Grahame captures the essence of animal instinct. I do love these four creatures.

A delightful classic!
Mole, Badger and Rat (Ratty) are friends of the infamous Toad of Toad Hall. While his friends live the simple country life, Toad lives the life of a millionaire Playboy. one day while taking his friends for a ride in his carriage an automobile spooks the horse and overturns the carriage. Toad then gets a wild hair that he must have an automobile at all costs. Can toads friends save him from his very self before it's too late?
This is a great little story that helps tell children not just a tall tale filled with animals but helps them distinguish moral values and presents friendship from several different points of view. The characters are different but mesh so well that most anyone can identify with at least one of them. The story, although not long, is beautifully written in lush detail. Perfect for young readers who are just beginning to learn to read big books.
The actual book story is a bit different from the Disney version of Mr. Toad, but they definitely have their similarities. If I remember correctly the underlying story is very much the same. I do think however, watching the Disney version would be a great compliment to the story after reading the book.
My son and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. He loved Rat the best as he was so kind-hearted and gentle and willing to take Mole under his wing in so many undertakings.
This is a book I think every child should read at least once. And if you are an adult and have not read it I would highly recommend doing so.

And with just 6 hours to spare - the 2017 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge has been completed

The prompt: A book you bought on a trip.

A whimsical classic tale featuring Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad. We have sheltered Mole, venturing out to see the river with Rat. There's the stodgy old Badger who turns out to be much more warmhearted than anticipated. The fanciful Toad learns several valuable life lessons - one of which requires the garb of a grandmother during a prison escape!

Charming, fun and a bit concerning. Look, reading this as an adult, I do have a few questions:
-- Do all critters have the same name? If two moles meet, do they refer to each other as Mole? Or is it just our cast of characters that has the misfortune of being named after their species?
-- How can they eat meat? It seems like all animals are intelligent beings in this book so how can they bear to eat ham and sausages? Perhaps the tasty animals don't count...

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This book has everything that you need in a children's book! Caricature animals, morals in disguise, adventure and humour. It also has a special ambiance about it that makes you feel safe and content while reading this story. I'm surprised I haven't read it before, because I know I would've absolutely loved it as a child.
My favourite character was the Mole; however, the absurd and stupid Mr. Toad cracked me up, and I ended up absolutely loving him as well. I also loved the setting of the woods and how we get to follow the characters for some years; it all felt right and they became my friends. And one of the scenes broke my heart a little bit because it was so vividly described.
I think this book is perfect for children because of the reasons written above; furthermore, this is a story which is very suitable for rereading, and it's a story you can't help but love. This is definitely a book that I'll be recommending to my own kids someday! I just need to get my hands on a beautiful, illustrated version :)

This is one of them children's classics that I know best of the adaptations, most memorably Cosgrove Halls stop-motion animation from the 1980's.
I wanted to add this to our Disney collection as featured in the 1949 big screen outing of 'The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'.

The novel follows four anthropomorphic characters in Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad in various adventures, at times it felt more like a collection of short stories.

It might be because the adaptations were so strong in my mind, but I was desperate to get back to the chapters involving Toad.
There's something thrilling about his impulsive obsession with the motor car.

This is very quintessential British and easy to see why it landed 14th in a BBC survey to find the nation's favourite books in 2003.

This really isn't a children's book; I don't think you can really admire the beauty here until you are older. My edition is, in fact, the edition my great aunt gave my father.

It isn't so much the sense of a simpler time, more of a sense of simpler life. If the Hobbits in Middle Earth are the standard English folk, the animals, the mammals, are the standard English folk here.

Still enjoyable.

Love Ratty.

If you have children and you have not read this gem with them, do it now. Go buy a lovely illustrated edition and make a memory that I think will last beyond childhood. Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger are characters worth knowing and visiting in childhood again and again.

When I closed the last page of this book, I was sad to see these characters go. I enjoyed the story, which had a classic quality from page one. There are numerous lessons to be learned here, the value of nature and how to live a balanced life, and the value of society. However, I think this is primarily a tale about the true quality of friendship, loving your friends, helping them, telling them in a non-hurtful way when they are over-the-top, and just sharing with them all the true pleasures in life: a fire, good food, a float down a river and a secure night's rest. I thought about my best friend and how she has seen me through all the travails of life and shared so many brilliant moments and how we have turned fright into laughter and a lack of funds into a celebration just by being together. It made me very nostalgic and I wanted to run over to her house, the way we did when we were young and lived close by, and have a sleep over and talk into the morning hours and get up and share a breakfast and plan an outing. I wanted to link arms and walk into a forest, unafraid and replete with smiles.

If I am ever feeling sad and lost in the world, I think I will grab this book and read it again. I hope I can find an illustrated hard copy somewhere, preferably with illustrations by Moore, whose work has bowled me over online. Oddly enough, I thought I had read this before, but found that I had not, and I'm very glad I decided to join the group reading and get my very pleasurable introduction to Mr. Grahame's fabulous menagerie.

I’ve just finished “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame. I’m giving it 5 stars out of 5 because I was absolutely bewitched by the endearing animal characters, the spellbinding scenery and the sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious twists and turns of the story. The minute description of English rural scenery shows the author’s genuine love of the place where he spent his boyhood – the enchanting Berkshire countryside and Thames River vicinity. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves animals.

It’s hard to believe that the book could better the original BBC one-off adaptation of Grahame’s novel - and I often found myself reading the dialogue with the actors’ voices in my head - and I was surprised at how the modern it was. Already the world of the Mole, Ratty and the Riverbank is vanishing throughout its pages, with the infuriating but loveable Toad a harbinger of the modern world in his mania for material possessions and luxury.

Timeless and essential reading for all.

I bought a copy of The Wind in the Willows when I was expecting my son in 2013 & it went on the bookshelf where it's been overlooked ever since. It's one of those stories that I knew generally because it had been read to me when I was a little girl and I quite enjoyed it. But I'd never sat down and actually read it for myself. What prompted me to get to it finally? The Calm app.

2020 had been a crazy year even before Covid-19 and that app saved my sanity. I have a lifetime subscription and they have three sleep stories featuring The Wind in the Willows. The narrator is fantastic and she's so good that I'd fall asleep before getting to the end of the chapter so I knew it was time to read the book. It required obtaining another copy because the one we already had was packed up and in storage after a fire and it was entirely worth it. Badger, Ratty & Mr. Toad were wonderful to spend time with (though Toad does not make things easy for his friends; I personally think he's a disorderly menace but I've been outvoted in my household & he's considered a misunderstood favourite here).

Recommended and not just for the children in your life but the child still in your heart.