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Summary: The wind in the Willows
Review: The Wind in the Willows
I would recommend this book to others because it's hard to put it down .I read the whole book in a half day. It was fun reading about the adventures that the animals had with their different personalities. My favorite character in the book was Mr. toad because of his crazy adventures. His personality also changed thorughout the book. In the beginning he talked alol abouty himself, was gredy and was very mischeivous. By the end of the book, he was generous, kind, adn thought about others. the best single moment was when r. toad pretended to faint while he was dressed as a washer woman. He chose to do this because he had seen a car in the distance and was hoping to drive it. His plan worked. By telling lies to the men in the car he was able to drive.
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Summary: Idyllic, adventurous, poetic, humorous ... truly classic!
Review: Reading a book that is well-established as a classic offers both risks and rewards. The risk is that one's expectations might be too high, leading to disappointment. The reward is that the book matches expectations, leading to thorough satisfaction. Reading Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" is certainly rewarding, but also risky. It's unquestionably a classic, popularized in part by A.A. Milne's dramatization in 1929 under the name "Toad of Toad Hall." Quite honestly, expecting a child-like story, I found it on a higher level altogether, and perhaps even best appreciated by teens and older readers. It has a poetical lyrical quality that could discourage younger readers from completing it on their own. But that aside, it's not hard to see why this book has stood the test of time. Especially the talking animal protagonists are outstanding. Shy and loyal Mole, clever and courageous Rat, gruff and gentlemanly Badger, and arrogant, adventurous and crazed Toad - the animal characters that populate Grahame's novel are thoroughly individual, real, and loveable, despite their individual quirks. They are distinctly animal-like, and yet aspects of their life (food - transport - clothing) are distinctly human, enabling us to identify with them quickly and easily and yet be charmed by their differences. Toad does ultimately repent from his conceited egotism "Henceforth I will be a very different Toad", although we cannot help get the feeling that this is not the first time he has embarked on a road of repentance only to be ambushed again by his old nature. All of this is portrayed with poetic lyricism, as well as warm sympathy and humour. There is something here for everyone. When the friends aren't lazily floating down the river or indulging their appetites, they are worrying about Toad's latest escapades with motor-boats or automobiles. Readers will find themselves attracted to the rustic, quiet and cozy life of companionship on the river, or else the neverending action that ensues as Toad follows his selfish passions and gets himself into trouble and the climax as Toad and his friends seek to recapture Toad Hall from evil weasels, ferrets and stoats. While the final battle offers thrills, Toad's "education" is undoubtedly a good lesson for us all. Grahame's animal world offers much food for thought for humans in the real world. Visiting this fantasy world is not escapist, because it better equips us to live in the real world. If there is any criticism, it might be that the novel does not work the aspects of introspection and adventure together cohesively and so does not always function well as a whole. The shift from pastoral introspection to madcap adventure and back is at times too great. But even if the snap-shots of "The Wind in the Willows" 's fantasy world are somewhat fragmented, in the end it's the characters of this world that make it so convincing and successful. With their successful combination of idyllic companionships and adventurous mishaps, Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad will continue to make new friends of readers in years to come. -GODLY GADFLY
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Summary: A mellow sojourn in a gentle world
Review: This classic features stirring prose, a peaceful country setting, and characters that you can relate to (even if they ARE animals ;-) I think I liked the social and natural setting best of all, a depiction of a Victorian English world that probably never existed, but which lives on in the imaginations of children. One chapter has a description of a nature god, which lends interesting depth to the story. Some of the characters are old-world stereotypes (the rich dilettante Toad, and the crude barge-woman, for example), but all the main characters are fleshed out enough to seem "human" - loyal Mole, practical Rat, solitary Badger; even Toad is seen to have his good side. Just to show how dreamy and beautiful the prose is, here's a sentence from the first page: "Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing."
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Summary: Delightful adventures
Review: The Wind In The Willows is a flawlessly recorded audio CD edition of the classic children's story by Kenneth Grahame which was originally published in 1908. This outstanding presentation is dramatically read by Martin Jarvis and enhanced with classical music to nicely complement the narrated text. The delightful adventures of Ratty, Mole, Badger, and their ever-ebullient friend Toad of Toad Hall, come fully to life, in a true and memorably entertaining "theatre of the mind" experience.
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Summary: Nature Worship
Review: I have loved the stories of Mole and Rat, Toad and Badger since I was a kid. I recently read the origional book for the first time, having had tapes as a kid, and there was a whole chapter that I guess they had chosen to leave out of the audio taped version I had. This chapter was so soaked in pantheism and the beauty and power of nature...I loved it and it took my breath away. Reading the book was well worth it just for this chapter. And all the adventures are still very entertaining!
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Summary: Why, that foolish toad..
Review: While looking at my bookshelf for books, I picked up a book that seemed like new. I looked at the bottom of this book, it said, 'by Kenneth Grahame'. Above those letters were written the words, 'Illustrations-Helen Ward'. I examined the picture on the cover; it was vividly drawn, with colors ranging from birch white to algae green. The book was called The Wind in the Willows. When I flipped open the front cover I looked on the back of the title page. It wasn't like any of the other copyright and publishing pages I've seen. They were based on the edition I had. The edition I acquire is copyrighted 2000 by Templar Company plc, and published by Borders Press. After flipping over the cover of this wonderful book, I started reading it. I found out that this astounding book is about the adventures of Mole and his friends. Mole, dwells in a small house in Wild Wood. He met many friends including the gentle Water Rat, the kind Badger, and the foolish but friendly Toad. The Badger hates society, and the Toad daydreams all day and his foolishness leads him to endless trouble yet Toady is still proud himself for everything he does. One day Toad was walking and his eyes caught a deserted car. He couldn't resist it, so he hopped in and took a ride. In time he got caught and sent to a jail in England. Eventually Toady escaped and returned to Wild Wood. There he found out that the weasels and stoats, the Wild Wooders, had taken over Toad Hall. The friends came up with a way to repossess Toad Hall. Thus one night when the Wild Wooders were having a grand feast, Toady, Ratty, Mole and Badger went through a secret passage past the guards and attacked the feasting stoats and weasels. After that battle Mole and his companions could finally live peacefully in Wild Wood. There are plenty of high-quality chapters in this book but my favorite chapter is the last chapter, The Return of Ulysses, which is approximately 15 pages long.
It's the most exciting part of the book because it has the section where Mole and his friends defeat the Wild Wooders. I also like the ending of the chapter because it really sounds like what a mom would say to her kid in real life. The mother weasel tells the babies that if they don't behave, the terrible gray badger would get them. Though there are many good parts, the part I hated was a chapter called the Wild Wood. It was all about the tedious subject of finding the hole of Mr. Badger. Half of the part was walking in the woods doing absolutely nothing! It also had a great deal of complex words, which made it kind of hard to understand. It was so boring; you could fall asleep just reading it! However, this is still a superior hardback.
Anyone who likes books with animal characters with human traits would thoroughly enjoy this book. The book has series of events that don't really fit in to the main problem but those events are what makes this book interesting. What made this book special to me is that each creature has a different personality. For example, there's the foolish Toad, the Badger that hates society, and Ratty who is obsessed with poems and river life. If this article interests you, why don't you try to read The Wind in the Willows yourself?
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Summary: great and enchanting for all ages.
Review: This is an enchanting cartoon film for al ages. "The Wind and the Willows " series is a classic. Toad , mole, and all the gang are a sweet and cudly family for children and adults to watch as well.
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Summary: A dinosaur that eludes extinction
Review: Somehow surviving long past its usefulness, "The Wind in the Willows" needs to be moved out of the children's section to the shelf where other curiosities of humanity's sexist Christian past gather cobwebs. Grahame's blatant misogyny practically oozes from every page, with the only semblance of a positive female character being a jailer's daughter. All other depictions of and references to women are stereotypically unflattering: the jailer's daughter's washerwoman aunt who resembles a toad, the fat-limbed barge woman, and the Water Rat's comment to Toad, "On your own admission you have been handcuffed, imprisoned, starved, chased, terrified out of your life, insulted, jeered at, and ignominiously flung into the water -- by a woman, too!" Direct references to the Christian observance of Christmas similarly make it unfit for circulation by municipal libraries, especially if it's acquired with public funds. With its ensemble of four male lead characters and no major female characters, a book like "The Wind in the Willows" would never find a publisher today. How it manages to stay in print and so popular is a sad reminder of how little progress humanity has made.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: While the book itself might be "gentle" and "charming," we found the video, while colorful, to be rather violent. There is more than one scene where characters achieve their aims using guns and swords as weapons against others. Toad crashes car after car without consequence . . . after all, he's always got the money to buy another. What lesson does that teach youthful viewers? Toad does eventually land in a dungeon, in shackles, at the hands of a rather menacing constabulary and with no trial. But he escapes to crash yet more cars. Our children will not see this video, nor - in good conscience - could we pass it along or sell it. Too violent.
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Summary: The Wind in the Willows a review By Andrew
Review: Have you ever wanted to do something so badly you would go through the harshest weather to do it? Then you must read the most exciting book there is, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. Mr. Mole wants to see Mr. Toad, who is the richest animal in town. So Mr. Rat takes Mr. Mole to see him. Mr. Toad and Mr. Mole became friends. Now Mole wants to see Mr. Badger. Rat doesn't want to take him, but Mole leaves over the night to go see Badger.
Then it started to snow, so he found a hole in a tree and he slept there for the night. Rat went after him and succeeded. Soon they found Badger's house. Suddenly Otter came and told Rat and Mole that everyone was looking for them. First, Otter, Badger, Rat, and Mole sat down and had dinner. Then Badger led them through a tunnel that took them almost to Rat's house. Rat protected everyone with his handguns. Everyone was safe and happy that day.
When they got to the surface they saw that it had stopped snowing while they were walking home. They soon thanked Badger for letting them visit at his house and for giving them shelter when they were there. They thanked him dearly for showing them the way home. Soon Badger left and went back home to eat dinner. Everyone had a fun day and at the end of the day they all went home for bed. To find out more about what happens you must read the book titled, The Wind in the Willows.
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