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Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) was a British writer and banker, best known for The Wind in the Willows (1908). Learn about his life, career, works, and legacy from this comprehensive article.
Learn about the life and achievements of Kenneth Grahame, the British author of The Wind in the Willows, a classic of children's literature. Find out how he started his career at the Bank of England and wrote stories for journals and collections.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 7, 2018 · Kenneth Grahame was a successful banker and a fantasist who wrote children's classics such as The Wind in the Willows. He had a tragic personal life marked by loss, estrangement and depression.
A classic children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It tells the story of four animal friends: Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, and their adventures on the riverbank and beyond.
- Kenneth Grahame
- 1908
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The Wind in the Willows, book of linked animal tales by British writer Kenneth Grahame that began as a series of bedtime stories for his son and was published in 1908. The beautifully written work, with its evocative descriptions of the countryside interspersed with exciting adventures, became a classic of English children’s literature.
The tales relate the adventures of several animal friends and neighbours in the English countryside—primarily Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. Although the animals converse, philosophize, and behave like humans, each creature also retains its distinctive animal habits. The story begins when Mole decides to go to the riverbank one morning rather than do his spring cleaning. There he comes across his friend Rat, a water rat, and they spend the spring and summer together. One day they visit the irrepressible, generous, and boastful Mr. Toad, owner of Toad Hall, who possesses large amounts of money but not much brain. Toad is given to fads, and Mole and Rat join him in an excursion in his present enthusiasm, a horse-drawn caravan (a cart with beds and cooking equipment), until a speeding automobile frightens the horse and wrecks the caravan. Toad is mesmerized by the car. Mole and Rat later go to the Wild Wood to visit the kindly and responsible Badger, to whom they report that Toad has bought and smashed several automobiles.
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The three friends attempt an intervention, to prevent Toad from buying and wrecking more motorcars. Despite their efforts to contain him, Toad escapes, and, when he encounters an unattended car, he steals it. Inevitably, he is caught and sent to prison. However, the jailer’s daughter takes pity on him and helps him escape. After many further adventures, Toad is at last rescued by Rat. He learns that in his absence, Toad Hall has been taken over by weasels and stoats, but Badger knows that Toad Hall has a secret tunnel entrance, and the interlopers are evicted in a climactic battle, followed by a celebratory banquet.
Shortly after retiring as secretary of the Bank of England, Grahame published The Wind in the Willows. Although initially met with mixed reviews, the book quickly became popular. Its fans included U.S. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt and English writer A.A. Milne, the latter of whom extracted Toad’s adventures for the play Toad of Toad Hall (1929), the fi...
Learn about The Wind in the Willows, a classic of English children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, published in 1908. The book features four animal friends who have various adventures in the English countryside.
Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer of children's literature, best known for The Wind in the Willows. Find his books, ratings, reviews, quotes, and more on Goodreads.
A classic of children's literature and fantasy, featuring four animal friends and their adventures by the River Thames. Read ratings, reviews, and book details by the author of The Reluctant Dragon and other works.
