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The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames valley. The classic story of how Rat, Mole, and the other river bankers saved Toad from his excesses. This book has it all: excitement, sentiment, destruction of private property (plenty of that), paganism, and a happy ending. The prose is beautiful and occasionally requires the use of a dictionary. Written as a children's story, The Wind in the Willows is enjoyed by many grown ups who relish Grahame's ability to evoke the long summer days of childhood.

Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) was a Scottish author of children's fiction. In his twenties he wrote stories for periodicals, but he later became famous for the classic children's novel, 'The Wind of the Willows', the characters in which he based on his son and good friends. When he died, his cousin, author Anthony Hope, wrote for his headstone that he "... passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time."