Product Description

The tales of Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad. When Mole goes boating with the Water Rat instead of spring-cleaning, he discovers a new world. As well as the river and the Wild Wood, there is Toad's craze for fast travel which leads him and his friends on a whirl of trains, barges, gipsy caravans and motor cars and even into battle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24676 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

totally engaging
'The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home...'

I don't know the first lines of many books off by heart, but TWITW is such an immediate and engaging tale that there's no choice other than to fall neatly in step with Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad straight away, and to stay there, if you're lucky for the rest of your life. I first read this when I was 7 or 8 and have revisited it many many times. To call it a children's book (and it's the greatest of all children's books) is to do it a massive disservice, for it is much much more than that.

I envy anyone picking it up for the first time.

Beautiful and curiously undated
A moral and illuminating tale spun around the lives of Rat, Mole, Badger and Toad of Toad Hall in timeless countryside.
Mole bravely sets out first and feels that his happiness is complete when, while meandering aimless and joyfully along on a bright spring day, he claps his eyes on a full-fledged river for the first time in his life. There, he meets Rat and learns that "there is nothing -absolutely nothing- half as much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." They visit Toad -him of "the finest house on the whole river or anywhere else for that matter"- and hit the open road in horse-and-cart where they meet with an accident which cuts short their adventure and introduces the easily entranced Toad to his latest obsession and eventual downfall: the motor-car. The group of friends is eventually completed by Mr.Badger whose house is found just when there is a dire need. He reveals his character as a wise and kindly listener to woes and worries, nodding gravely at intervals, never seeming surprised or shocked at anything: an all-round agreeable fellow.
Through the following seasons, all friends involve themselves in the events and ordinary affairs of those around them, eventually steering Toad into an altogether more wholesome direction and managing another miraculous rescue as well. In the latter, the Horned God gets a look in as a benevolent helper who works his magic and then sees to all but its effects being forgotten, blending back into the subtle spiritual tapestry. Beautiful and curiously undated, this is a fine read.

A whimsical tale most beautifully written
The Wind in the Willows will always have a huge appeal to children because of the immediacy of its story-telling and the appealing and straightforward portrayal of the main characters. But an aspect which I think is far too often overlooked is that it is also most beautifully crafted as written English, whether in its narrative or its lyrical sections; the flow and cadence of the language is hypnotic. There could hardly be a better way in to developing an enjoyment of language and a fluent writing style than to be thoroughly immersed in this lovely book.