One of the great classics with animals and soft creeks and idyllic surroundings, my childhood memories can still hear that breeze rustling through the glades alongside the Thames. The adventures of Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger are universal in their light moral messages and each is endearing and will create enduring memories in the hearts of your children. Come to think of it, it is about time I dusted this off and read it to my kids!

Oh Toad…

I picked this book up at a library sale for about $2. I'm reading it aloud to the kids as "bedtime stories." We're also intermittenly watching a few of the million movie versions.

At first the kids stared blankly off into space as I read, as the words are bigger and more complex even than the ones I use with them (and more than a few people have taken notice of how "big" I speak to my kids). Even I had to read pages a second time to understand what exactly we were reading about. But once we got into the rhythm of the story and the language, we all relaxed into it and began picturing the events in our own imaginations. The kids occasionally ask me to explain or define a word, and often beg me to keep reading well past bedtime.

This story appeals to my sense of what childhood should be full of: literature and imagination without being dumbed down. We've gotten past the chapter titled "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and I have to say that I was fearful that this chapter would disappoint after being built up so high in my own head. It most certainly did not! I found myself catching my breathe afterwards. Entirely beautiful.

We're nearly done with the book and I believe I may be stalling to finish in order to keep the story alive in my own head just a little bit longer.

Having first read this so many years ago, I found myself revisiting it with joy and some incredulity that it's still seen as a children's book. It's sublime - the poetry of the prose; the descriptions of the natural world; the sly PG Wodehouse humour, and most of all the jewel-like clarity of that very little world: the Riverbank; the Wild Wood; the World Beyond a kind of blur on the distant horizon. The characters are marvellous: combining some wonderful comic dialogue (which I can't help hearing in Alan Bennett's voice) with some genuinely terrific insights into: addiction, alcoholism and male mid-life crises (Toad); depression (Rat); and anxiety (Mole). Most of all, what's striking to me is the essential *kindness* of it all: there's drama, but of a special sort: there's conflict, but a conflict that is resolved through quiet discussion, good sense and understanding. And of course, there's friendship; the kind of real, satisfying friendship that we all hope for, but that few of us ever find. In a way it's what THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING might have been, if Sam and Frodo had spent their lives messing about on the river with Bilbo and Gandalf, instead of having to fight the minions of darkness. Reading it is good for the soul: perhaps even more so as an adult than it was when I was child. It reminds us that, even in the darkest of times, there are simple pleasures to be had; that however dark our future may seem, friendship and love can carry us through.

This is one of my favorite children's books that I didn't grow up reading as a child. I love the writing style and the world building. Though I find the plot in the second half of the novel has a lot of plot holes (why isn't Toad rearrested??) I still love it and look forward to reading it aloud to a child or cat in the future.

Trying to review The Wind in the Willows is a strange undertaking. In the introduction to my copy, A. A. Milne wrote:

"One can argue over the merits of most books... one does not argue about The Wind in the Willows. The young man gives it to the girl with whom he is in love, and if she does not like it, he asks her to return his letters. The old man tries it on his nephew, and alters his will accordingly. ... When you sit down to [read] it, don't be so ridiculous as to suppose you are sitting in judgment on my taste, or on the art of Kenneth Grahame. You are merely sitting in judgment on yourself. You may be worthy; I don't know. But it is you who are on trial."

Milne's comments may seem overly grave, especially to those familiar with Grahame's lighthearted, whimsical, occasionally mystical, story of Mole and Water Rat's genteel life on the bank of the River and the adventures of the incorrigible and ridiculous (and highly entertaining) Mr. Toad, wanton son of worthier sires, but look here: if you love the story, you are clearly on the side of the Hobbits (indeed, if you want to know what life in the Shire is like, I can't think of a better book to refer you to); and if you dislike it, you may be an Orc at heart - seducable, like Toad, away from quiet contemplative enjoyment of this sometimes-slow book by the flash and boom of technological gimmickry. You might be the kind of person who prefers to run on an electric treadmill or rubber sports track than hike a nature trail.

And if you are, I hope you have friends as stubbornly loyal as Mole, Water Rat, and Badger who will stick by you, in spite of yourself, until you come around.

There are undoubtedly some lovely, engaging and entertaining moments along the way – and there are clearly some memorable characters in Kenneth Grahame’s ‘Wind in the Willows’. (This edition is beautifully illustrated by Ernest Shepard which enhances the stories no end).

Somehow, some way though – I just don’t get it… I don’t understand the great appeal, the classic literary status or the high esteem in which Grahame’s book is held? Clearly I am missing something and I’m not sure what that is..? It is not the issue of anthropomorphism – that in itself I don’t have a problem with at all.

It’s also not that ‘Wind in the Willows’ is a particularly poor book, but to me it is in no way a great one. For fear of perhaps damning it with faint praise….it’s okay.

I was 10-years-old when I fell in love with books, but I was 12-years-old (in Mr. Natoli's seventh grade English class) that I fell in love with literature. The Wind in the Willows was the first of those books. I remember laughing as he handed out these books with a dancing frog on the cover. This is "literature?" I thought. I had this high-minded perception that literature could only be complex and resonant. This could not be that. Afterall, it had a dancing frog on the cover. Before we began reading, Mr. Natoli gave us a little background information about the author, communicating that the background should be used to inform, but should never be used to determine how a work makes you feel. The work and the author are separate, but sometimes not-so-much. The stories about Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger were written for Grahame's son who took his own life at 20, Mr. Natoli told us. Apparently, Toad's self-destructive behavior was based on him. The book, of course, takes a much more profound significance when read in this light. Sure, thematically the book is filled with the whimsical adventures of the four main characters, but there is also an adult message prevalent throughout. The narrative is written in a lyrical, musical vocabulary that is brilliantly descriptive and evocative of playing in fields and woods. There is a harmony with nature that needs to be considered, as well. This is really, really a special read, highly recommended.

WTF did I just read?
I'm sorry, I understand this story is very dear to a lot of people's childhood - and that's okay - but as a first-time reader and adult, I'm just so confused. This book left me with more questions than anything else.
The badly thought-out world-building of the author just appears as a complete lack of commitment to his own idea -almost like he's scared to go all out with it. Some times they behave like animals, but for the most part, they're just humans. Why did he even make them animals in the first place? The only animal thing about them is the fact that they live in holes. That's it.
This book left me confused as hell. Some questions:
- Why do they have to catch a horse - it's an animal, just like them, who should be able to talk and be intelligent.
- Why are they even using a friggen HORSE to drag a carriage made for a TOAD? What size is this carriage? Couldn't it have been dragged by an iguana, or something else more size appropriate?
- Toad is keeping a bird in a cage? WHAT? Is she a sex slave? Why is an animal that's the exact same size and intelligence as he being held in a cage by him. What a sicko.
- Why are they eating ham? D: They're literally eating other intelligent animals.
- Toad eats rabbit stew? Ew. That's like a human eating orangutan stew.
- What's up with the humans? Why can they speak to animals?
- How is a small little toad driving a car? Are they tiny cars? Did the animals go through the industrial revolution? Or was there a nuclear fallout causing them to mutate into huge human-sized creatures and this has simply been accepted by human society?
- Is that why he successfully dresses in a woman's clothes that would normally be 50 times his size?
And many more :) Sorry. This book made me angry. (INTJ. I apologize).

Why I chose to read this book:
1. My GR friend (and author), Holly Ducarte, recommended it to me; and,
2. it's a perfect read for my "Classics Month"!

Positives:
1. these interwoven animal tales were told as bedtime stories for Kenneth Grahame's son. They are warm and lighthearted with short, sweet plots featuring the loveable characters of Mole, Water Rat (I pictured a Muskrat), Toad and Badger;
2. speaking of characters, my favorite has to be Toad! Although quite conceited, Grahame expertly portrays him as a very likeable rascal. Luckily for Toad, his friends help keep him in check;
3. the settings, indoors and out, are all very descriptive! I loved all the cozy picnics and homey mealtimes. I also had fun trying to picture Rat, Toad and Mole catching a horse and harnessing it to a cart! and,
4. for me, this story was a little reminiscent of Watership Down, but much less intense and a lot more fun!

My only niggle:
Although written with children in mind, it's unfortunate that today's youngsters (and even some adults) would lack the patience and appreciation for the rich vocabulary and expressive prose in this well-loved story composed over 100 years ago; however,

I highly recommend this quick and fun read about the value of friendship!

I wanted to reread this book in 2023 and had a break in my reading schedule so grabbed it off my bookshelf-what a lovely surprise to see it inscribed to me on the occasion of my 9th birthday by my beloved grandpa along with two of his favorite quotes!! I don't remember actually reading this as a nine year old but I am certain I did, because it was well thumbed through. I do believe I got so much more reading it as an adult. Steady and dependable ol' Water Rat, curious Mole, wise Badger, and of course the inimitable Toad. Great humor, beauty, life lessons, faith, grace and friendship.

My daughter is home and we were talking about favorite books we read together when she was little....

This was one of them!