The Wind in the Willows

by Kenneth Grahame

Overview

The Wind in the Willows is book that made Kenneth Grahame popular. „Wind in the willows” is an elegant parable about class struggle, about the dangers of decadent country life in the face of powerful revolutionary forces. This story explores the life of four generations. Kenneth Grahame wrote this story in a difficult period:women were propagandising for the vote,the Irish were demanding Home Rule.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783736808300
Publisher:	BookRix
Publication date:	05/21/2019
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	235
Sales rank:	313,631
File size:	675 KB
Age Range:	6 Years

About the Author

Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) was inspired to write The Wind in the Willows based on bedtime stories he had been telling his young son, Alastair. The book was published in 1908 to instant acclaim.

David Roberts is the author-illustrator of the Bertie Books and the illustrator of many books for children, including Paul Fleischman’s The Dunderheads, which was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal; its sequel The Dunderheads Behind Bars, also by Paul Fleischman; and The Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong. David Roberts lives in London.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Wind in the Willows"
by .
Copyright © 2006 Kenneth Grahame.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

1 The River Bank 7

2 The Open Road 22

3 The Wild Wood 36

4 Mr Badger 50

5 Dulce Domum 66

6 Mr Toad 83

7 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 96

8 Toad's Adventures 107

9 Wayfarers All 122

10 The Further Adventures of Toad 141

11 'Like Summer Tempests Came His Tears' 159

12 The Return of Ulysses 176

What People are Saying About This

EBOOK COMMENTARY

“Narrator Shelly Frasier's clear, pleasant voice carefully distinguishes [Rat, Toad, Mole, and Badger].... The naughty toad is her best creation—-she seems to understand his dreamy but destructive love of motor cars completely.” —-AudioFile

Editorial Reviews

[A]n elegantly designed volume ready to take its rightful place on any child’s bookshelf.
—Kirkus Reviews

Grahame’s early-20th-century classic is enhanced by lovely watercolor illustrations that provide a contemporary and packed-with-charisma accompaniment. ... Ranging from small vignettes to full-bleed double pages, the artwork embellishes almost every spread, engaging independent readers and reeling in younger listeners with entertaining antics, gentle humor, and genial affection.
—School Library Journal

There's a lot of humor in [Roberts'] offbeat artwork, and he does a fine job of conveying the warmth and coziness of the worlds within the legendary riverbank and Wild Wood of the novel. ... It’s a well-designed book (not surprising, coming from Candlewick as it does), and it would lend itself well to a parent-child one-on-one reading, especially as an introduction to the famous tale.
—Kirkus Reviews Online

From the Publisher

Originally published in France in 1996, this edition collects the four corresponding English-language volumes that were first issued between 1997 and 2002 by NBM. Plessix's style has been called "detailed impressionism," and the limpid watercolors of his lavish adaptation give that "Somewhere Else" quality to the classic story-2008 is the 100th anniversary of Graham's novel. So many adaptations have so little space to work in that they seem more like CliffsNotes versions. But Plessix has truly adapted the tale with most of the narrative details intact-and a few new twists at the end. And while the anthropomorphic animal characters have a cute, cartoony quality, the overall effect of a timeless, golden world is not thereby disrupted; all the looniness and love of nature from the original come through beautifully. Somehow the world of Mole and his friends suggests an animal Hobbiton in a Ring-less alternative universe, where talking animals and humans coexist amid a gloriously bucolic world of water, woods, and fields based on preindustrial rural England. Unfortunately, the pages are a little too small to showcase the details of Plessix's lush art as it deserves. For all ages.
—Martha Cornog

EBOOK COMMENTARY

01/01/2014
Gr 1–4—Grahame's early-20th-century classic is enhanced by lovely watercolor illustrations that provide a contemporary and packed-with-charisma accompaniment. The anthropomorphized characters, all fashionably turned out in Edwardian costume, are vivified with expressive facial features and twinkling eyes. Detailed settings range from Ratty's cozy and colorfully decorated waterside home to the elegant grandeur of Toad Hall to Mole's understated tunnel-shaped abode. The beautifully composed outdoor scenes sparkle with season-appropriate hues: a springtime rowing jaunt down a sunlit river is framed by trailing willow trees, and a wintertime excursion into the Wild Wood is evoked with lavender skies, intertwined tree barks in swirling grays, and an overlay of heavy white snowflakes. In addition to the geometric drawings that embellish each chapter title, designs made from bold shapes and bright constrasting colors appear throughout, adding an Art Deco flair. Ranging from small vignettes to full-bleed double pages, the artwork embellishes almost every spread, engaging independent readers and reeling in younger listeners with entertaining antics, gentle humor, and genial affection.—Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

2013-08-15
Many famous artists have interpreted the antics and adventures of Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger. Roberts takes a decidedly modern approach in this gift edition sure to appeal to another generation of readers. From the glimmer of silver-foiled lettering on the front cover to the full-color illustrations liberally dispersed throughout, readers of all ages can fully immerse themselves in Grahame's settings. Images executed in watercolor, ink, pen and pencil perfectly convey the postures of a distraught Mole or a momentarily contrite Toad, while the backgrounds impress with a range of seasons and circumstances. Washes of a dominant color are given fine details and highlights with touches of contrasting color, as when cool, frosty blues give way to a circle of white that glows around a young mouse choir, all snuggled in their vibrant orange-red scarves, as they sing carols. Humor abounds. Giggles will erupt at the picture of Toad alarmed and upside down, with the birds at the bottom of the page and the grassy bank slanting at the top. The variety of full-page, double-page and spot illustrations keeps the experience lively. Although purists may quibble at the omission of the chapter "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," those new to the book will not miss it (but may inquire who the mischievous boy--the Greek god Pan--is that appears on a few pages). All told, an elegantly designed volume ready to take its rightful place on any child's bookshelf. (Fantasy. All ages)

Kirkus Reviews

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