This much-loved story follows a group of animal friends in the English countryside as they pursue adventure, and as adventure pursues them! The chief characters - Mole, Rat, and Toad - generally lead upbeat and happy lives, but their tales are leavened with moments of terror, homesickness, awe, madcap antics, and derring-do.
Although classed as children's literature, The Wind in the Willows holds a gentle fascination for adults too. The vocabulary is decidedly not "Dick and Jane", and a reader with a love of words will find new ones to treasure, even if well-equipped for the journey. Parents will appreciate the themes of loyalty, manners, self-restraint, and comradeship which are evident throughout the book. When the characters err, they are prompt to acknowlege it, and so a reading of this book can model good behavior to children, who will otherwise be enchanted with the many ways in which the lives of these bucolic characters differ from modern life.
This book was so successful that it enabled the author to retire from banking and take up a country life somewhat like that of his creations. It has been adapted for screen, stage, and even a ride at the original Disneyland.
Read by
Peter Yearsley
Meredith Hughes
Kara Shallenberg
Betsie Bush
Peter Yearsley
Vinny Bove
Chip
Denny Sayers
Peter Eastman
Kymm Zuckert
Kirsten Ferreri
Catharine Eastman
link to the free audiobook
Synge's first account of life in the Aran Islands was published in the New Ireland Review in 1898 and his book, The Aran Islands, based largely on journals, was completed in 1901 and published in 1907 with illustrations by Jack Butler Yeats.[brother of W.B Yeats] Synge considered the book "my first serious piece of work". When Lady Gregory read the manuscript she advised Synge to remove any direct naming of places and to add more folk stories, but he refused to do either because he wanted to create something more realistic.
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