About this ebook
A joy to read and reread, Kenneth Grahame's story of children is not a book designed purely for young readers. Thoughtful short stories about five endearing and creative siblings growing up in late Victorian England, the charming vignettes gently probe differences between children's and adults' perceptions of the world.
These youngsters are particularly confounded by the actions of adults they perceive as stiff and colorless, with no vital interests or pursuits, and who lead apparently aimless lives. Young Harold, in sharp contrast, loves to play muffin-man, shaking a noiseless bell while selling invisible confections to imaginary customers. Brother Edward likes to crouch in a ditch where he becomes a grizzly bear and springs out in front of his shrieking brothers and sisters.
Grahame's enchanting reminiscences and inventions, based in part on his own Victorian childhood, are enhanced by the delightful illustrations of renowned American artist Maxfield Parrish. The book is a joyful work that parents will delight in reading along with their children.
These youngsters are particularly confounded by the actions of adults they perceive as stiff and colorless, with no vital interests or pursuits, and who lead apparently aimless lives. Young Harold, in sharp contrast, loves to play muffin-man, shaking a noiseless bell while selling invisible confections to imaginary customers. Brother Edward likes to crouch in a ditch where he becomes a grizzly bear and springs out in front of his shrieking brothers and sisters.
Grahame's enchanting reminiscences and inventions, based in part on his own Victorian childhood, are enhanced by the delightful illustrations of renowned American artist Maxfield Parrish. The book is a joyful work that parents will delight in reading along with their children.
About the author
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh on March 3, 1859. When he was five years old, his mother died of scarlet fever and he nearly died himself, of the same disease. His father became an alcoholic and sent the children to Berkshire to live with relatives. They were later reunited with their father, but after a failed year, the children never heard from him again. Sometime later, one of his brothers died at the age of fifteen. He attended St. Edward's School as a child and intended to go on to Oxford University, but his relatives wanted him to go into banking. He worked in his uncle's office, in Westminster, for two years then went to work at the Bank of England as a clerk in 1879. He spent nearly thirty years there and became the Secretary of the Bank at the age of thirty-nine. He retired from the bank right before The Wind in the Willows was published in 1908. He wrote essays on topics that included smoking, walking and idleness. Many of the essays were published as the book Pagan Papers (1893) and the five orphan characters featured in the papers were developed into the books The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1898). The Wind in the Willows (1908) was based on bedtime stories and letters to his son and it is where the characters Rat, Badger, Mole and Toad were created. In 1930, Milne's stage version was brought to another audience in Toad of Toad Hall. Grahame died on July 6, 1932.
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