The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows was the book that made Kenneth Grahame's fortune, enabling him to retire from his hated (though respectable and well-paid) bank job and retire to the country, pretty much doing what the animal characters in this book do.

The story is alternately slow-moving and fast-paced, centering on three middle-aged male characters in bucolic England. It had illustrations by Ernest Shepard

Characters:

• Mole -- mild-mannered
• Rat (or Ratty) -- loves the river
• Badger -- powerful yet solitary
• Toad -- mischievous estate-owner
• Pan -- makes a single, otherwise anomalous, appearance

William Horwood[?] created several sequels to Wind in the Willows[?]

• The Willows in Winter
• Toad Triumphant
• The Willows and Beyond

There are several versions of Wind in the Willows: A play called Toad of Toad Hall by A. A. Milne, film versions done by for example, Walt Disney and Cosgrove Hall[?].