LoveReading4Kids Says
This is a wonderful hardback edition (part of the Oxford Children's Classics Collection), perfect as a gift or to last and last when read and reread from the nursery bookshelf. With the complete and unabridged text, 100 years on this superb story of mole and badger and their hapless friend toad still has the power to capture and inspire the reader’s imagination.
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Sally Grindley, December 2010 Guest Editor, explains why she loves The Wind in the Willows:
"This is my all time favourite childrens’ book. Thanks, Mum, for introducing me to it! What wonderful characters and what a fabulous plot. You can’t help but love naïve little Mole, discovering life above ground for the first time; industrious Ratty, always on the go and mad about boating; avuncular Badger, ready with a wise word and a warm fire; and, of course, incorrigible Mr Toad, who never stops getting into the most extraordinary scrapes. The backdrop to it all is the Wild Wood, with its wicked bands of stoats and weasels. Watch out, Toad!"
LoveReading4Kids
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The Wind in the Willows Synopsis
Kenneth Grahame's classic tale was first published in 1908, and children and adults alike fell in love with the timid Mole, the friendly Water Rat, the erudite Badger, the mischievous Toad, and a host of other unforgettable creatures. The quiet life they lead on the banks of the River Thames is interspersed with adventures, normally instigated by Toad, who has a propensity for trouble, and whose sudden and all-consuming passion for motor cars eventually results in his being kept 'a helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the best-guarded keep of the stoutest castle in all the length and breadth of Merry England.' His escape dressed as a washerwoman and his journey home to Toad Hall are among the most familiar and best-loved escapades in children's literature.
Over the years, the animals' adventures have been brought to life by many artists, including E. H. Shepard, who illustrated the original edition, and Arthur Rackham. This magnificent new edition brings the story to life with more than 70 new illustrations by award-winning artist Robert Ingpen, so fans of all ages can relive - or enjoy for the first time - this heart-warming tale.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781786750938 |
| Publication date: |
1st May 2017 |
| Author: |
Kenneth Grahame |
| Illustrator: |
Robert Ingpen |
| Publisher: |
Palazzo |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
192 pages |
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About Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but in early childhood, after being orphaned, moved to live with his grandmother on the banks of the River Thames in southern England. He was an outstanding pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford and wanted to attend Oxford University but was not allowed to do so by his guardian on grounds of cost. Instead he was sent to work at the Bank of England in 1879, and rose through the ranks until retiring as its Secretary in 1908 due to ill health. In addition to ill health, Grahame's retirement was precipitated in 1903 by a strange, possibly political, shooting incident at the bank. Grahame was shot at three times, all of them missed. Grahame's marriage to Elspeth Thomson was an unhappy one. They had only one child, a boy named Alastair, who was born blind in one eye and was plagued by health problems throughout his short life. Alastair eventually committed suicide on a railway track while an undergraduate at Oxford University, two days before his 20th birthday on 7 May, 1920. Out of respect for Kenneth Grahame, Alastair's demise was recorded as an accidental death. Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire in 1932.
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