The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 19 February 1998
by Kenneth Grahame
I am glad I never got around to reading this book when I was still a kid. The book, published in 1908, is more dense and adult-feeling than most modern children's books. The story, centering on the lives of various anthropomorphic animals in the English countryside, has passages of pure magic and beauty, as well as adventure and conflict. Mr Toad is an arrogant adventurer, Mr Rat is industrious and dreamy, Mr Mole is diligent and devoted, Mr Badger strong and noble. They all play and work and dream in warm green summers and cold white winters. Put together from letters sent by Grahame to his son, the book is somewhat uneven, but these matters matter little in the overall flow of life in the fields and forests. Some chapters have the hazy beauty of memory and mystery. Others are more chaotic and troubling. Overall a wonderful read. One chapter lent its title to a well-known psychadelic Pink Floyd album and an obscure and slightly different movie version of the book was released in 1996.