Book Review: Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame*

[Ad-gifted] Published over a hundred years ago in 1908, Wind in the Willows has been printed again and again, and has also appeared as a stop-motion film (1983) and later serialised for television. In 1995 it was reproduced as an animated film.

This version is published by Welbeck Children which is part of Hachette UK and shares about the series of letters sent by the author to his son, Alastair, as a stay-at-home bribe when the parents went on a long holiday without the child. Those initial 15 letters were the seed-corn of Grahame’s most successful story – tales of happy friends who lived along a riverbank and shared adventures together – a story that still continues to fascinate and delight children today.

What I thought of this edition of Wind in the Willows

The story is so well-known that it hardly needs an introduction. The protagonist, a mole of gentle character and perhaps a little naïve, makes friends with a water rat, a badger and a toad. They enjoy picnics and boat trips together… nice food and a good beer. Mr Toad is rich, boastful and excitable, and his recklessness with ‘motor cars’ gets him in trouble with the law. His friends try to straighten him out but he ends up in prison. Later on, some Wild Wooders (stoats and weasels no less) take over Toad Hall in Toad’s absence and have to be evicted by the joint efforts of the group of friends.

I first read the tales from the river bank as a child of about nine or ten. I immediately developed an affinity with Toad and took a strong disliking to Badger. What a miserable, bossy character Badger is! Authoritarian, grumpy, thinks he knows best. What exactly is the problem with Toad singing songs and enjoying fast cars? Badger says that they need to safeguard ‘the reputation of the animals’ and look after Toad’s dwindling inheritance… but really, I thought, it was just an excuse for him being overbearing. Mole is homely and inconsequential, and Ratty the type of fellow who makes connections and gets stuff done. Toad is the real hero (or anti-hero) in my eyes; unabashed, boastful, joyful, loud, temporarily repentant and completely rubbish with attending to the laundry! Toad gets to crash the cars, sing raucously and dress up.

Most good stories are written in two parts: the second of this being the battle for Toad Hall. We see the animals armed with swords, cutlasses, pistols and truncheons for the fight, accompanied by sticking plaster and sandwiches.

What my son thought of the book

Is this too much violence for a children’s story? And what about the wide vocabulary of little-known words and the old-fashioned language? Neither of these proved to be a problem for my little boy. Most children like a good old fight in a story (and no, I don’t think it encourages knife crime, before you ask) and I think the story has a poetic lilt to it that the listener can soon settle into when being read to aloud.

Eli says: “The story is cool and I really like the pictures. It is definitely a toad in the pictures – you can tell by the shape of the eyes and the colour. It is a nice book… can we read it again?”

I would confidently add that it still has as much appeal today as it did a hundred years back!

The sad reality of Grahame’s world

As with the children’s authors, Enid Blyton and A A Milne, this cheery story by Kenneth Grahame belies a rather tragic life. Enid Blyton wrote about the ‘jolly’ public schools that she packed her daughters off to where they languished miserably by all accounts. Similarly, A A Milne sent Christopher Robin away while he continued to write about the kid’s magical life with his animal friends. Kenneth Grahame was no stranger to suffering, losing his mother at an early age and then being sent away to be raised by grandparents in a village by the banks of the Thames. Father to a disabled, nearly blind child, it seems that Grahame was a distant parent, communication at its best through the letters that this book became. Poor Alastair grew up under pressure, failed exams and ended his life as a teenager on the railway tracks a step away from his college. It is an endless tragedy that such gifted writers who have given generations of children so much pleasure seem unable to live by the lives they create.

The illustrations by Robert Ingpen

He should have changed his name to Inkpen, I feel, but that is just a frivolity!

This version is so beautifully illustrated that it makes a perfect item to gift. Robert Ingpen’s artwork is timeless and detailed, with a subtle colour palette of green, ochre and brown.

In 1931 this book was illustrated by E H Shepard (of Winnie-the-Pooh fame), breathing new life into the characters. These sketches are possibly the most well-known depictions of Mole et al, but it is nice to see this talented Australian artist interpret the story in his own style. I especially love the gathering of the swallows on page 152; it goes well with their chatter in the book! And of course, the exciting selection of weapons on page 210, just before the battle for Toad Hall. I am not sure, however, that Badger’s red monogrammed jumper is in good taste…

It is also interesting how each illustrator gets round the odd scale of the animals. They have a horse and cart… so are they human-sized? But they live in the river bank under the roots of trees. It is all a bit confusing!

In this edition, my son had to check each picture to make sure that it showed a toad, not a frog, as he is a bit obsessive with such detail. They did ‘check out’ well, and the motor cars and other objects are also in keeping with the era.

Where you can get your copy of Wind in the Willows and how much it costs?

This 2021 abridged hardback edition illustrated by Robert Ingpen is published by Welbeck and is now available at Amazon  and good book retailers such as PostScript for about £7.99. Do check their website for the latest price as this might change.

About the Book

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Welbeck Children’s Books
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1803380919
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 3 years and up
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 24.8 x 0.8 x 27.6 cm

About the Author

Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, but, following the death of his mother when he was only five years old, was brought up by his grandmother in Berkshire, England, UK. Grahame began writing as a means of escaping the drudgery of his job at the bank, and he soon began to have pieces published in journals. The Wind in the Willows began as a bedtime story for Grahame’s son Alistair, nicknamed ‘Mouse’, and was further embellished by Grahame in letters to his son. The book was published in 1908 and eventually became a huge bestseller.

Review by: Metia Bethell Egan

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