The Wind In The Willows

By Kenneth Grahame

Mr. Toad and his friends—Mole, Ratty, and Mr. Badger—have outrageous adventures in the Wild Wood, but Toad ever learn to be the responsible toad he should be?

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781443444163

Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh in 1859. He was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, but family circumstances prevented him from entering Oxford University. He joined the Bank of England as a gentleman clerk in 1879, rising to become the Bank's Secretary in 1898. He wrote a series of short stories, married Elspeth Thomson in 1899 and their only child, Alistair, was born a year later. He left the Bank in 1908, the year that The Wind in the Willows was published. Though not an immediate success, by the time of Grahame's death in 1932 it was recognised as a children's classic.

Book preview

Chapter I

The River Bank

The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said, Bother! and O blow! and also Hang spring cleaning! and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he made for the steep little tunnel which answered in his case to the gravelled carriage drive owned by animals whose residences are nearer to the sun and air. So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged, and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped, working busily with his little paws and muttering to himself, Up we go! Up we go! till at last, pop! his snout came out into the sunlight and he found himself rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow.

This is fine! he said to himself. This is better than whitewashing! The sunshine struck hot on his fur, soft breezes caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the cellarage he had lived in so long the carol of happy birds fell on his dulled hearing almost like a shout. Jumping off all his four legs at once, in the joy of living and the delight of spring without its cleaning, he pursued his way across the meadow till he reached the hedge on the further side.

Hold up! said an elderly rabbit at the gap. Sixpence for the privilege of passing by the private road! He was bowled over in an instant by the impatient and contemptuous Mole, who trotted along the side of the hedge chaffing the other rabbits as they peeped hurriedly from their holes to see what the row was about. Onion sauce! Onion sauce! he remarked jeeringly, and was gone before they could think of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then they all started grumbling at each other. "How stupid you are! Why didn’t you tell him— Well, why didn’t you say— You might have reminded him—" and so on, in the usual way; but, of course, it was then much too late, as is always the case.

It all seemed too good to be true. Hither and thither through the meadows he rambled busily, along the hedgerows, across the copses, finding everywhere birds building, flowers budding, leaves thrusting—everything happy, and progressive, and occupied. And instead of having an uneasy conscience pricking him and whispering whitewash! he somehow could only feel how jolly it was to be the only idle dog among all these busy citizens. After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.

He thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered aimlessly along, suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river. Never in his life had he seen a river before—this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver—glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble. The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.

As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole in the bank opposite, just above the water’s edge, caught his eye, and dreamily he fell to considering what a nice, snug dwelling place it would make for an animal with few wants and fond of a bijou riverside residence, above flood level and remote from noise and dust. As he gazed, something bright and small seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it, vanished, then twinkled once more like a tiny star. But it could hardly be a star in such an unlikely situation; and it was too glittering and small for a glowworm. Then, as he looked, it winked at him, and so declared itself to be an eye; and a small face began gradually to grow up round it, like a frame round a picture.

A brown little face, with whiskers.

A grave round face, with the same twinkle in its eye that had first attracted his notice.

Small neat ears and thick silky hair.

It was the Water Rat!

Then the two animals stood and regarded each other cautiously.

Hullo, Mole! said the Water Rat.

Hullo, Rat! said the Mole.

Would you like to come over? enquired the Rat presently.

"Oh, it’s all very well to talk," said the Mole rather pettishly, he being new to a river and riverside life and its ways.

The Rat said nothing, but stooped and unfastened a rope and hauled on it; then lightly stepped into a little boat which the Mole had not observed. It was painted blue outside and white within, and was just the size for two animals; and the Mole’s whole heart went out to it at once, even though he did not yet fully understand its uses.

The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up his forepaw as the Mole stepped gingerly down. Lean on that! he said. Now then, step lively! and the Mole to his surprise and rapture found himself actually seated in the stern of a real boat.

illustration

It was the Water Rat

This has been a wonderful day! said he, as the Rat shoved off and took to the sculls again. Do you know, I’ve never been in a boat before in all my life.

What? cried the Rat, open-mouthed: Never been in a—you never—well I—what have you been doing, then?

Is it so nice as all that? asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.

"Nice? It’s the only thing, said the Water Rat solemnly as he leant forward for his stroke. Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolutey nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing, he went on dreamily: messing—about—in—boats; messing—"

Look ahead, Rat! cried the Mole suddenly.

It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, the joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels in the air.

"—about in boats—or with boats, the Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. In or out of ’em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not. Look here! If you’ve really nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the river together, and have a long day of it?"

The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with a sigh of full contentment, and leant back blissfully into the soft cushions. "What a day I’m having! he said. Let us start at once!"

Hold hard a minute, then! said the Rat. He looped the painter through a ring in his landing  stage, climbed up into his hole above, and after a short interval reappeared staggering under a fat wicker luncheon basket.

Shove that under your feet, he observed to the Mole, as he passed it down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and took the sculls again.

What’s inside it? asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.

There’s cold chicken inside it, replied the Rat briefly: coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwiches pottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater—

O stop, stop! cried the Mole in ecstasies. This is too much!

Do you really think so? enquired the Rat seriously. "It’s only what I always take on these little excursions; and the other animals are always telling me that I’m a mean beast and cut it very fine!"

The Mole never heard a word he was saying. Absorbed in the new life he was entering upon, intoxicated with the sparkle, the ripple, the scents and the sounds and the sunlight, he trailed a paw in the water and dreamed long waking dreams. The Water Rat, like the good little fellow he was, sculled steadily on and forbore to disturb him.

I like your clothes awfully, old chap, he remarked after some half an hour or so had passed. I’m going to get a black velvet smoking suit myself someday, as soon as I can afford it.

I beg your pardon, said the Mole, pulling himself together with an effort. You must think me very rude; but all this is so new to me. So—this—is—a—River!

"The River," corrected the Rat.

And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!

By it and with it and on it and in it, said the Rat. It’s brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and drink, and (naturally) washing. It’s my world, and I don’t want any other. What it hasn’t got is not worth having, and what it doesn’t know is not worth knowing. Lord! the times we’ve had together! Whether in winter or summer, spring or autumn, it’s always got its fun and its excitements. When the floods are on in February, and my cellars and basement are brimming with drink that’s no good to me, and the brown water runs by my best bedroom window; or again when it all drops away and shows patches of mud that smells like plum cake, and the rushes and weed clog the channels, and I can potter about dry shod over most of the bed of it and find fresh food to eat, and things careless people have dropped out of boats!

But isn’t it a bit dull at times? the Mole ventured to ask. Just you and the river, and no one else to pass a word with?

No one else to—well, I mustn’t be hard on you, said the Rat with forbearance. "You’re new to it, and of course you don’t know. The bank is so crowded nowadays that many people are moving away altogether. O no, it isn’t what it used to be, at all. Otters, kingfishers, dabchicks, moorhens, all of them about all day long and always wanting you to do something—as if a fellow had no business of his own to attend to!"

"What lies over there?" asked the Mole, waving a paw towards a background of woodland that darkly framed the water meadows on one side of the river.

That? O, that’s just the Wild Wood, said the Rat shortly. We don’t go there very much, we river-bankers.

"Aren’t they—aren’t they very nice people in there?" said the Mole a trifle nervously.

W-e-ll, replied the Rat, "let me see. The squirrels are all right. And the rabbits—some of ’em, but rabbits are a mixed lot. And then there’s Badger, of course. He lives right in the heart of it; wouldn’t live anywhere else, either, if you paid him to do it. Dear old Badger! Nobody interferes with him. They’d better not," he added significantly.

"Why, who should interfere with him?" asked the Mole.

Well, of course—there—are others, explained the Rat in a hesitating sort of way. Weasels—and stoats—and foxes—and so on. They’re all right in a way—I’m very good friends with them—pass the time of day when we meet, and all that—but they break out sometimes, there’s no denying it, and then—well, you can’t really trust them, and that’s the fact.

The Mole knew well that it is quite against animal-etiquette to dwell on possible trouble ahead, or even to allude to it; so he dropped the subject.

And beyond the Wild Wood again? he asked; where it’s all blue and dim, and one sees what may be hills or perhaps they mayn’t, and something like the smoke of towns, or is it only cloud-drift?

Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World, said the Rat. And that’s something that doesn’t matter, either to you or me. I’ve never been there, and I’m never going, nor you either, if you’ve got any sense at all. Don’t ever refer to it again, please. Now then! Here’s our backwater at last, where we’re going to lunch.

Leaving the main stream, they now passed into what seemed at first sight like a little landlocked lake. Green turf sloped down to either edge, brown snaky tree roots gleamed below the surface of the quiet water, while ahead of them the silvery shoulder and foamy tumble of a weir, arm-in-arm with a restless dripping millwheel, that held up in its turn a grey-gabled mill house, filled the air with a soothing murmur of sound, dull and smothery, yet with little clear voices speaking up cheerfully out of it at intervals. It was so very beautiful that the Mole could only hold up both forepaws and gasp: O my! O my! O my!

The Rat brought the boat alongside the bank, made her fast, helped the still awkward Mole safely ashore, and swung out the luncheon basket. The Mole begged as a favour to be allowed to unpack it all by himself; and the Rat was very pleased to indulge him, and to sprawl at full length on the grass and rest, while his excited friend shook out the tablecloth and spread it, took out all the mysterious packets one by one and arranged their contents in due order, still gasping: O my! O my! at each fresh revelation. When all was ready, the Rat said, Now, pitch in, old fellow! and the Mole was indeed very glad to obey, for he had started his spring cleaning at a very early hour that morning, as people will do, and had not paused for bite or sup; and he had been through a very great deal since that distant time which now seemed so many days ago.

What are you looking at? said the Rat presently, when the edge of their hunger was somewhat dulled, and the Mole’s eyes were able to wander off the tablecloth a little.

I am looking, said the Mole, at a streak of bubbles that I see travelling along the surface of the water. That is a thing that strikes me as funny.

Bubbles? Oho! said the Rat, and chirruped cheerily in an inviting sort of way.

A broad glistening muzzle showed itself above the edge of the bank, and the Otter hauled himself out and shook the water from his coat.

Greedy beggars! he observed, making for the provender. Why didn’t you invite me, Ratty?

This was an impromptu affair, explained the Rat. By the way—my friend Mr. Mole.

Proud, I’m sure, said the Otter, and the two animals were friends forthwith.

Such a rumpus everywhere! continued the Otter. All the world seems out on the river today. I came up this backwater to try and get a moment’s peace, and then stumble upon you fellows!—At least—I beg pardon—I don’t exactly mean that, you know.

There was a rustle behind them, proceeding from a hedge wherein last year’s leaves still clung thick, and a stripy head, with high shoulders behind it, peered forth on them.

Come on, old Badger! shouted the Rat.

The Badger trotted forward a pace or two, then grunted, H’m! Company, and turned his back and disappeared from view.

"That’s just the sort of fellow he is! observed the disappointed Rat. Simply hates Society! Now we shan’t see any more of him today. Well, tell us, who’s out on the river?"

Toad’s out, for one, replied the Otter. In his brand-new wager-boat; new togs, new everything!

The two animals looked at each other and laughed.

Once, it was nothing but sailing, said the Rat. Then he tired of that and took to punting. Nothing would please him but to punt all day and every day, and a nice mess he made of it. Last year it was house-boating, and we all had to go and stay with him in his houseboat, and pretend we liked it. He was going to spend the rest of his life in a houseboat. It’s all the same, whatever he takes up; he gets tired of it, and starts on something fresh.

Such a good fellow, too, remarked the Otter reflectively; but no stability—especially in a boat!

From where they sat they could get a glimpse of the main stream across the island that separated them; and

Reviews for The Wind In The Willows

[booktsunami · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I managed to avoid somehow or other reading the complete Wind in the Willows until I was well into adulthood. Of course, it is probably impossible to escape bits of it such as Ratty's wise words...'Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing...."But I found myself reading the full version around the 100 year anniversary of its original publication in 1908. And, despite myself. Quite enjoyed it. There is a bit of the class struggle reflected in it with Toad representing the worst of inherited wealth and privilige and ratty the best blend of smarts and good-heartedness. But really, I didn't buy this book for the story and I already have 3 other copies of the W/W. I bought for the wonderful illustrations by Robert Ingpen. He really is a favourite illustrator of mine. And, as is pointed out in the preface, it is no mean challenge to illustrate a book where everyone has their own mental pictures of Toa's caravan, or of the wild wood, or ratty and Mole's boating expedition etc. But, to my mind, the Ingpen version is simply one of the best, His style is semi realist.....realist enough for one to enjoy the warmth of Badger's fire and the food hanging from the ceiling of his abode. (p 60-61). It doesn't do to be too critical however; Badger's kitchen is true to the text with the glow and the warmth of the fire-lit kitchen whereas a REAK Badger's lair would be pitch black and maybe damp and certainly smelly. There is so much fun detail in Inpen's paintings. (I assume they are watercolour) but not quite sure. And they fade into a blurriness that hints at more details but just not enough to resolve. His draftsmanship is superb and he manages to faithfully portray the various animals whilst bestowing a pleasing familiarity upon them. I don't know how many illustrations there are in the book but did a quick sample count and it averages out at 7.5 illustrations per 10 pages. That is a wealth of illustration and fit makes the book a delight to read to children. Some of my favourite illustrations are of mole in the wild wood with the rabbit p 50; Badger leading Rat and Mole through underground passageways p76; Rat and Mole in the rowing boat just prior to dawn p121; the weasels, armed to the teeth attacking Toad hall.....p195. But these are just a few of the absolute gems in the book. Strongly recommend it.

[jeffome · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not necessarily an avid children's book reader beyond my trusty Hardy Boys....but i recently saw a local community theater production of this, and in between the time i purchased the ticket and actually saw the play, this book showed up in a box of odds and ends someone gave me.....it seemed like fate was telling me to read it....So i did! And what a beautifully illustrated work this is. The fantastical world of these animals came to life for my stifled and stiff brain so much more so than had it not been just littered from end to end with gorgeous vivid drawings in both Black & White and Color

[rosecityreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Wind in the Willows is as daffy and charming as it must have seemed when it was first published in 1908. Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s novel follows the anthropomorphic adventures of several woodland creatures, primarily Mole, Rat, Badger, and Toad. They enjoy many pastimes, including “messing about in boats,” Christmas caroling, and driving motor cars. This last becomes Mr. Toad’s passion, landing him in all sorts of trouble and, eventually, a dungeon. The animals have many adventures along the river and in the Wild Wood, but they all love home best, where they like to cozy up in front of a fireplace and enjoy simple meals with friends. What makes the book so funny is how the animals live alongside people, doing people things, but without exciting comment. And they do it all regardless of the comparative size of things. Mole and Rat harness a horse to a gypsy caravan, field mice slice a ham and fry it for breakfast, Toad drives people cars and wears a washerwoman’s clothes to escape from prison. It is easy to see why this book remains popular. Among other claims to fame, Teddy Roosevelt said he read it several times, P.G. Wodehouse was clearly influenced by the lighthearted humor (one of his novels, Joy in the Morning, shares the same title as the carol sung by the field mice), and it shows up as one of Radcliffe's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. Also posted on Rose City Reader.

[danielstj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Surprisingly decent.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have never read The Wind in the Willows but enjoyed this moralistic story. I cannot believe that the story was intended for children, as underneath the characters reside many moral stories. The Toad represents a greedy, egotistic individual that must undergo a transformation. His friends, the Rat, the Badger, and the Mole, remain loyal in efforts to assist the Toad. The Toad encounters a lengthy journey of self-discovery and remains set on his misbegotten path. The story spends numerous pages on description that would bore a child. A child needs more action and less speech.

[laviniarossetti · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Ratty, Mole and Badger become great friends when they meet at the riverbank, and in the Wild Wood. But it seems impossible to them to keep close friendships with Toad, the owner of the great Toad Hall. He does not understand the traditional culture of peaceful animals, and goes against the rules entirely - it's up to the three 'normal' animals to bring him back to the good-natured animal he used to be.

He comes up with random likings to completely different things - once, he went on about boats, and a few days later, forgot all about them and whenever they were mentioned said what utter badness they caused and were. But this time, he has taken a liking to motor cars, and he steals and robs them, and when he does, drives them terrifically horribly.

Ending up in prison and in even more trouble than when he was driving about in the motor car, Toady was upset and missed his beautiful Toad Hall. And even when he escapes with the gaoler's daughter, he returns to the mansion to find that it has been taken over by the evil stoats and weasels!

It's up to him, Ratty, Mole and Badger to get it back for Toad. And when they do, will he turn to that ordinary young Toady he so used to be?

Goes on a bit, I suppose; but then, it uses good words and phrases, unlike the modern-day books, which are filled not with, '"Come, Moly, let us take back the Hall! Toady, you should know better!"', but with, 'She still looked stunningly beautiful.' and that sort of thing. Still, I would rather it didn't have so much description-this-description-that.

[hopeevey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a sweet, lovely listen! Somehow I managed to totally miss this when I was a child. Even with my waning interest in kid lit, this darling tale captivated me. There's adventure and silliness seasoned well with kind friendship.

[lgandt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent comfort book for when the day has been just that bad.

[stpnwlf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful children's classic.

[addunn3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is great to read an old classic!

[thesmellofbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Priceless!

[jculkin-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is a brilliant book here - absolutely whimsical childlike adventuring brilliance! Unfortunately a lot of rubbish got mixed up with it somehow. For a vastly improved reading experience read these chapters:

Chapter 1 - The River Bank
Chapter 2 - The Open Road
Chapter 3 - The Wild Wood
Chapter 4 - Mr. Badger
Chapter 5 - Dulce Domum
Chapter 9 - Wayfarers All
Chapter 7 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

This pretty much cuts out Toad, and ends on the highest of notes. I'm really pretty sore about reading all the crappy adventures of Toad, but I did love the rest. I had better come back in a year, follow my own advice and review again

[lord_boris-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Wind in the Willows is an odd book in that it is meant for children yet has chapter titles such as "Dulce Domum", "Like Summer Tempests Came His Tears", "The Return of Ulysses" and most famously "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Some of these chapters are stand alone with only a few threads of plot to interconnect them. In fact there is very little plot as the book is about friendship and maintaining the status quo. It's a very conservative book. I read it last forty years ago and can remember as a child being confused but somehow affected by The Piper at the Gates of Dawn chapter. Reading it as an adult, it is clearly the best part of the book. Still dislike Toad though.

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I suppose I was in the mood for this book, but it was a sheer delight and it immediately became a favorite book. My copy has an introduction and afterword, as well as a brief author bio written by Jane Yolen which I really appreciated. We only have a small cast of central characters here, a mole, a water rat, a badger and a toad, 'Mr. Toad'. I adore Mole and Ratty. I found myself loving every one of them, maybe even Mr. Toad. This is a children's book for grown-ups as well as mid aged kids. When I got to chapter 7, titled "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" my mouth dropped open. My copy only has a few illustrations in it - lovely black and white drawings, and the artist is not credited, although I think I deciphered the name Zimic. Then I decided that artist Tricia Zimic created the delightful cover illustration as well as the interior pen and ink drawings.I much more partial to the early half of the book, the rather nostalgic, pastoral adventures of Mole, Rat and Badger as well as the Piper piece in the middle. As Jane Yolen notes, this is really three sorts of stories in one book.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I know I'd read this book as a kid, but have always been a bit surprised by how little impression it apparently left on me and how little I remembered about it. So a revisit seemed in order.And... Well, it's a perfectly fine kids' book. The writing is good, and doesn't condescend to or oversimplify itself for young readers, which I approve of, although a few of the hymn-to-nature passages do get to be a little bit much. And Toad is kind of a fun character; the chapter where his friends stage an intervention for him for his automotive addiction made me laugh out loud. But I can kind of see how kid-me didn't find it all that memorable. I just never quite felt as charmed by it as its reputation suggests I should be. It's nice enough, but when it comes to classic talking-animals-in-the-woods-of-Britain stories, it's never going to rival Winnie-the-Pooh for a place in my heart.

[bkohl_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perfectly lovely story about messing about in boats, wild boastful adventures and why one should never pretend to be a washerwoman if one has never washed clothes. The genius of The Wind in the Willows is the perfectly imagined non-human morality: everything is right when it's born of instinct. Animals eat, play in the summer sun, return home, and nap through the winter, as they should. My childhood copy (Galahad Books 1983) is missing a chapter: the one where the seafaring rat bewitches Ratty to go South. The flow of the story isn't interrupted without it, although I wonder why that one was taken out, and not "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn."

[eurekas_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely Marvelous!

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Wind in the Willows opens in a bucolic way, as Mole ventures out from home and meets up with Rat, and the two gentlemanly country animals become fast friends. Soon Badger is added to their troop. But then there is Mr. Toad, a wealthy, vain wastrel, who flits from one ridiculous obsession to another.The book sort of splits then, with some chapters following the adventures of the idiotic, boastful, live-for-the-moment Toad, while other chapters focus on the other friends. Those chapters tend towards dullness, for while Mole, Rat and Badger are definitely the characters one might like if one knew them, they do not have interesting adventures. They go about being polite to each other and enjoying a pretty day. Toad on the other hand, wrecks automobiles, steals automobiles, goes to jail, escapes from jail, and on and on. I didn't enjoy the book on the whole as much as I expected to from such a renowned classic; good, but not great in my mind. The duller chapters weighted it down. I also found the presence of humans in this world disconcerting. Seems to me all of the characters should have been animals.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to love this book. It started off well, but it just started feeling like a chore to read. With just another 50 pages to read, I can't get motivated to finish. Was there some reason why there weren't any female animals/characters?

[nx74defiant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cute adventures of Mr. Toad and his friends. The story where they meet Pan seems out of place.

[john5918 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful children's book which, like so many really good children's books, is still of great interest to adults.

[nicholasjjordan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Yes, it's a classic, and it definitely deserves that space. But it's also really meandering and slow and semi-plotless. I'm glad I re-read it after many years away.

[lynleys-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this as an adult. My father owned it on cassette tape and every now and then I'd try listening to it as I fell asleep but it was perfectly soporific, and I never lasted more than a few minutes into the narration. It was only after seeing a stage version in Christchurch -- which I loved -- that I was prompted to read the darn thing. It is pretty good. A number of illustrators have gone to town with it as well, and I've since bought an illustrated version for my own kid.

[lysne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was required reading in my house. Not a day went by when someone didn't refer to dear Ratty, or Toad Hall. I had 3 copies by the time I was ten.

[sephma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great series of stories that I loved as a kid and liked even more as an adult. A couple are slightly long for storytelling but many would be great for slightly older children.

[yona-414000 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was perfect. I started stretching it out toward the end, only reading it in the evening when the mood was just right. I didn't want it to end. It was such a feel-good book. I totally loved the style of the writing. I think I'm going to take a look at a couple sequels that have been written but they weren't written by the same author so I'm not counting on anything.

[ramzartso-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great children's story. I recommend this for family-reading.

[rvhatha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Charming. I can't believe I didn't read this as a kid, but I'm kind of glad I didn't...not often you come across a book that you "wish you could read again for the first time," and it IS the first time you've read it! Mr. Badger is my new hero.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

They are such boys! Quite uncivilized, except when it comes to the codes of honor and of hospitality. They do love their food and their adventures - but then, they don't need to make a living.

Tasha Tudor's illustrations are wonderful: she makes the landscape enchanting and the friends handsome (Ratty most of all ;). The language is both witty and lyrical, and accessible (not the least bit difficult to read even after all these years). The personalities are vibrant - especially Badger's, and the stories are either mythic or hilarious, or both.

What surprised me was that these aren't just a unified series of adventures. I imagine most readers skim over Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Wayfarers All; maybe they're even left out of abridgments. I know it'd take me another reading to appreciate those fully. But they definitely belong in the book and enhance its appeal in the sense that the child reader knows *something* wonderful is being shared, and he's expected to be able to strive for it.

But I don't like how there is no consistent sense of the animals' relation to humans. I mean, sometimes they're small enough to burrow in the riverbank, and sometimes they're big enough to drive motorcars. Mostly they live their lives undetected, but even the barge-woman knows of Toad Hall. I never did read this as a child, and now I know why - I was too pragmatic.

[homeschoolmimzi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

UPDATE: Finished this book- twas well worth re-reading. I loved this edition, the illustrations were especially beautiful!






I am reading this book once again. A different edition this time, this one illustrated by Inga Moore. The story, pictures and layout are relaxing and engaging, especially at this time in my life. Looking at meadows and streams and reading about carefree days is just what I need right now.