Kenneth Grahame 
Wind in the Willows 

The Wind in the Willows is a children’s novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow-moving and fast-paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality and camaraderie, and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames Valley. In addition to the main narrative, the book also contains several independent short stories featuring Rat and Mole, which explore human emotions the emotions of fear, nostalgia, awe and wanderlust. These stories appear for the most part between the chapters chronicling Toad’s adventures, and are often omitted from abridgements and dramatisations. The novel was in its 31st printing when playwright A. A. Milne adapted part of it for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall in 1929. 1946 saw the first of several film adaptations. In 2003, it was listed at number 16 in the BBC’s survey The Big Read.