The Wind in the Willows

by Kenneth Grahame, Shawna J.C. Tenney (Illustrator)

In Kenneth Grahams classic tale of the River Bank, Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger make friends, have fun, and get into trouble in the Wild Wood. When Toad is imprisoned for stealing a car, the friends find themselves in a fight for Toad Hall. Follow the whimsical adventures of the Wild Wood in the Calico Illustrated Classics adaptation of Grahames The Wind in the Willows. Calico Chapter Books is an imprint of Magic Wagon, a division of ABDO Group. Grades 3-8.

112 pages, Library Binding

Published January 1, 2010

About the author

Kenneth Grahame was a British writer. He is best remembered for the classic of children's literature The Wind in the Willows (1908). Scottish by birth, he spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in England, following the death of his mother and his father's inability to look after the children. After attending St Edward's School in Oxford, his ambition to attend university was thwarted and he joined the Bank of England, where he had a successful career. Before writing The Wind in the Willows, he published three other books: Pagan Papers (1893), The Golden Age (1895), and Dream Days (1898).

Reviews

[Alyssa Acula · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this. I hated the character of Toad so much. His arrogance was grating to the nerves and I didn't like that there weren't really any legitimate consequences for his acts. He spent quite some time being proud, even bragging about it to some, of his misdemeanors. I honestly exerted to read through this to the end just to see some type of comeuppance for him to learn his lessons because I don't really think that he realized that he did something wrong.

[Julie Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cosy

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Toad is a boastful fellow who can't seem to see past his own wants and desires to make good choices. His friends Mole and Rat are faithful to a fault, even going to far as to aid a fugitive in reclaiming his house from the squatters who have overtaken it. Toad had been imprisoned for stealing a motorcar and crashing it but escapes from jail and deceives the many people he meets on his way back to his home.

This is an example of a fantasy story, so categorized because of the human way in which the animals behave and talk. The illustrations in this book show the animals dressed in fine formal wear complete with pocket watches. Toad lives in a very fancy house, built in the style of a human's home. In addition, when Toad gets into trouble, he is interacting with humans (from whom he steals the motorcar) and later it is human police officers that are chasing him. These things surely could not happen in real life.

After reading this story, Toad's character could be examined. Students could reflect on the types of choices he continues to make and whether they think he is a changed toad by the end of the story. They could try to think like Toad, feeling sorry for themselves, and write a letter home to Rat and Mole telling them about prison. Perhaps they could think like the changed Toad and write letters to a character that he wronged, apologizing for his silly behavior.

This version that I picked up at my library is adapted at a 3.7 reading level with a much simplified vocabulary from the original version. Scholastic Books tells me that the original version is listed at 8.3 grade level equivalent, which I think is much higher than the age group that would be interested in this story. 3-4th grade seems to be spot on for the target audience.

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I illustrated this book!

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked the part when toad and his friends made up a battle plan to defeat the weasels and the stoats.