Publisher's Synopsis
Kenneth Grahame was a British writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows, one of the classics of children's literature. While still a young man, Grahame began to publish light stories in London periodicals such as the St. James Gazette. Some of these stories were collected and published as Pagan Papers in 1893, and, two years later, The Golden Age. These were followed by Dream Days in 1898, which contains The Reluctant Dragon. There is a ten-year gap between Grahame's penultimate book and the publication of his triumph, The Wind in the Willows. During this decade Grahame became a father. The wayward headstrong nature he saw in his little son he transformed into the swaggering Mr. Toad, one of its four principal characters. Despite its success, he never attempted a sequel. (source: Wikipedia)Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and the mischievous Toad live a quiet life on banks of the River Thames with the rest of their animal friends. But Toad tends to get into trouble, and his passion for cars eventually results in his being caught and kept a helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the best-guarded castle in all the land. Dressed as a washerwoman-and with some help from his friends-Toad manages to escape the castle and begins his journey home to Toad Hall. The Wind in the Willows is a book for those "who keep the spirit of youth alive in them; of life, sunshine, running water, woodlands, dusty roads, winter firesides." So wrote Kenneth Grahame of his timeless tale of Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad.
