Kenneth Grahame

The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame

Publisher Marketing: The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said 'Bother!' and 'O blow!' and also 'Hang spring-cleaning!' and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he made for the steep little tunnel which answered in his case to the gavelled carriage-drive owned by animals whose residences are nearer to the sun and air. So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped, working busily with his little paws and muttering to himself, 'Up we go! Up we go!' till at last, pop! his snout came out into the sunlight, and he found himself rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow. 'This is fine!' he said to himself. 'This is better than whitewashing!' The sunshine struck hot on his fur, soft breezes caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the cellarage he had lived in so long the carol of happy birds fell on his dulled hearing almost like a shout. Jumping off all his four legs at once, in the joy of living and the delight of spring without its cleaning, he pursued his way across the meadow till he reached the hedge on the further side. 'Hold up!' said an elderly rabbit at the gap. 'Sixpence for the privilege of passing by the private road!' He was bowled over in an instant by the impatient and contemptuous Mole, who trotted along the side of the hedge chaffing the other rabbits as they peeped hurriedly from their holes to see what the row was about. 'Onion-sauce! Onion-sauce!' he remarked jeeringly, and was gone before they could think of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then they all started grumbling at each other. 'How STUPID you are! Why didn't you tell him--' 'Well, why didn't YOU say--' 'You might have reminded him--' and so on, in the usual way; but, of course, it was then much too late, as is always the case. It all seemed too good to be true. Hither and thither through the meadows he rambled busily, along the hedgerows, across the copses, finding everywhere birds building, flowers budding, leaves thrusting-everything happy, and progressive, and occupied. And instead of having an uneasy conscience pricking him and whispering 'whitewash!' he somehow could only feel how jolly it was to be the only idle dog among all these busy citizens. After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working. Review Citations: Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/0001 pg. 1023 (EAN 9780763642112, Paperback) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2009 pg. 363 (EAN 9780192728159, Hardcover) School Library Journal 04/01/2009 pg. 106 (EAN 9780955304637, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/0001 pg. 1023 (EAN 9780955304637, Hardcover) Ingram Children's Advance 11/01/2005 pg. 27 (EAN 9781402725050, Hardcover) Ingram Children's Advance 07/01/2005 pg. 56 (EAN 9780143039099, Paperback) Kliatt 11/01/2007 pg. 46 (EAN 9781400100736, Other) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 493 (EAN 9780915361328, Hardcover) Booklist 11/01/2003 pg. 496 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) PW Notes and Reprints 11/24/2003 pg. 67 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2003 pg. 79 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2004 pg. 79 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 11/24/2003 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 681 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/0001 pg. 1023 (EAN 9780763622428, Hardcover) PW Notes and Reprints 03/17/2003 pg. 78 (EAN 9780805072372, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2003 pg. 355 (EAN 9780805072372, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2003 pg. 355 (EAN 9780805072372, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 03/17/2003 (EAN 9780805072372, Hardcover) School Library Journal 07/01/2003 (EAN 9789626342770, Compact Disc) School Library Journal 07/01/2003 (EAN 9789626347775, Analog Audio Cassette) PW Notes and Reprints 07/29/2002 pg. 74 (EAN 9781587172045, Hardcover) Booklist 12/01/2002 pg. 664 (EAN 9781587172045, Hardcover) School Library Journal 01/01/2003 pg. 96 (EAN 9781587172045, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2002 pg. 67 (EAN 9781587172045, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2003 pg. 67 (EAN 9781587172045, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 07/29/2002 (EAN 9781587172045, Hardcover) PW Notes and Reprints 11/04/2002 pg. 86 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) USA Today 12/04/2002 pg. 1 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) Booklist 12/01/2002 pg. 664 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) School Library Journal 01/01/2003 pg. 96 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2002 pg. 80 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2003 pg. 80 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 11/04/2002 (EAN 9780152168070, Hardcover) School Library Journal 11/01/1986 (EAN 9780671610951, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 493 (EAN 9780805002133, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 540 (EAN 9780805002133, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2001 pg. 463 (EAN 9780805002133, Hardcover) Ingram Children's Advance 05/01/2001 pg. 50 (EAN 9780670899142, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 07/09/2001 pg. 70 (EAN 9780670899142, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2001 pg. 245 (EAN 9780670899142, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2001 pg. 245 (EAN 9780670899142, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2001 pg. 245 (EAN 9780141312040, Paperback) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2001 pg. 245 (EAN 9780141312040, Paperback) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1991 (EAN 9780684193458, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 493 (EAN 9780684180250, Paperback) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 540 (EAN 9780679418023, Hardcover) School Library Journal 07/01/2000 pg. 79 (EAN 9781561632459, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2000 pg. 61 (EAN 9781561632459, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2001 pg. 61 (EAN 9781561632459, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 492 (EAN 9780671636265, Paperback) Ingram Children's Advance 07/01/1999 pg. 15 (EAN 9780689831409, Paperback) Ingram Advance 08/01/1999 pg. 27 (EAN 9780689831409, Paperback) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 493 (EAN 9780670771202, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 540 (EAN 9780670771202, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2013 (EAN 9780763665265, Hardcover) School Library Journal 01/01/2014 pg. 68 (EAN 9780763665265, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2014 pg. 78 (EAN 9780763665265, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 540 (EAN 9780140315448, Paperback) School Library Journal 07/01/2011 pg. 119 (EAN 9789380028545, Paperback) Booklist 02/01/1996 pg. 932 (EAN 9780312136246, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2001 pg. 463 (EAN 9780312136246, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 681 (EAN 9780312136246, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Grahame, Kenneth Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer best-known for his celebrated children s novel, The Wind in the Willows. Prevented from attending university because of financial constraints, Grahame instead took a job with the Bank of England, which provided the financial security required to indulge his passion for writing. Many of Grahame s short stories were printed in the periodicals of the time, and were also later collected in Pagan Papers, The Golden Age, and Dream Days. Grahame s most famous work, the novel The Wind in the Willows, was originally conceived as a bedtime story for his son, and continues to be a beloved classic for children of all ages. Grahame died in 1932 at the age of 73. Contributor Bio:  Ukray, Murat Walter Crane (Liverpool, 1845 - 1915, Horsham) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century. His work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts.