Kenneth Grahame was born on this day in 1859. He was raised by his grandmother in the village of Cookham Dene, which served as the chief setting of The Wind in the Willows. The author created the character of Toad to amuse his son, but it was not until 1908 that the book was published. It was originally published without illustrations, but in 1931 was released with lovely illustrations by E. H. Shepard.
"Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wild World," said the Rat. "And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all..."
The remarkable story of Rat, Mole, Badger and Mr. Toad and their adventures in the English countryside is a classic of children's literature. It is a fabulous book to read aloud. If you haven't read this one, you simply must.
Now that's annoying ! My information is that Grahame was born today (March 9) and I was all set to do a post on it for my Blog, but I see you've got a date of March 8 - and I've just Googled it and see it was March 8 ! Grr !
ReplyDeleteHi Michele,
ReplyDeleteForgive me! I'm sure you could say something much more interesting about him and this book. It's a childhood favorite of mine, so I had to mention it.
By the way, I have a lovely book called Books Day by Day: Anniversaries, Anecdotes, and Activities by Susan Ohanian. It is a veritable treasure trove of information on authors and illustrators. THAT is how I remembered Grahame. (I read each week to see what is coming up.)
There, now my secret is out!
Tricia