The Wind in the Willows

This was a lot of fun! I read the abridged, illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows when I was in third grade, and I think I liked it then too. This is the unabridged version that has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and it brought me back to childhood with its whimsy and innocence and adventure.

It follows four friends- a badger named Badger, a mole named Mole, a water rat named Rat, and a toad named Toad (all names I would've come up with as a child- I had a stuffed rabbit named Rabbit). There isn't necessarily a single plot over the course of the book, but it's rather a series of adventures these friends have that build on each other. It was never boring or too slow for me though. There was definitely enough character development to keep the book moving forward.

I loved the personalities of each of the characters. They were so distinct and exaggerated and exactly what I would assume each personality would be, based on what kind of animal it was. And throughout the book there were references to an “animal etiquette”, which anthropomorphized some typical animal behaviors (disappearing suddenly, never mentioning possible trouble ahead, etc.) I found myself smiling quite a bit at how clever and creative it all was.

There were only a couple things that kept me from giving it 5 stars. One was that there were a couple of scenes that seemed to be completely out of place with the rest of the book, and I still don't understand why they were included. And the other reason is that I found myself fully annoyed with Toad through the entire book. I know that the reader is supposed to be, but he was more irritating than I expected. And he also made some comments about women that were pretty disrespectful. Again, I know that was only to show his arrogance (and he was extremely arrogant), but it rubbed me the wrong way.

However, I still loved this book and found it to be a fun, light summer read. I also found it to have some deeper themes- friendship, bravery, and the importance of having somewhere to call home. Which are beautiful messages for a children's classic.