I have never read The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and now I have the opportunity to as this is my nineteenth book to be opened in my bookish Advent calendar. I did say that I didn’t want any nineteenth century classics in my package and I note that this book was first published in 1908 – it has been popular ever since. I have no idea why I have never read this book as I have read so many of the children’s classics of the time.
It is, of course, a classic children’s book (we’ve had a few of these this month) about animals living by a river. I have mentioned before (see here) that I am not over fond of books where animals are the main protagonist and this is true but where this book differs from The Call of the Wild is that it is actually about people and the animals are not meant to be accurate representations of real life wildlife behaviour. Maybe it’s not a great difference but it means that I am looking forward to reading this book – I shall know better after I have read them both.
The story is about Mole and Water Rat and Toad who all live on the river bank but who live very human lives including driving fast cars. Toad is full of his own importance and a lot of the book is about bringing him down to earth and showing him the error of his ways but in a humorous way.
This is a Penguin Popular Classics edition and it is in excellent condition.
Anne Is Reading 