One sunny spring day, Mole decides to visit the river bank. There he meets and soon becomes firm friends with Ratty, Badger, and car-crazy Mr Toad. Life on the river couldn't be better, until Toad's reckless driving lands him in jail. When the nasty weasels and stoats decide to take over Toad Hall, it's up to the friends to save the day. One of the greatest animal stories ever written, Kenneth Grahame's classic novel is guaranteed to delight all young readers aged 8 and up. This edition also contains Arthur Rackham's famous illustrations, which bring the world of the river bank to life.
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but in early childhood, after being orphaned, moved to live with his grandmother on the banks of the River Thames in southern England. He was an outstanding pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford and wanted to attend Oxford University but was not allowed to do so by his guardian on grounds of cost. Instead he was sent to work at the Bank of England in 1879, and rose through the ranks until retiring as its Secretary in 1908 due to ill health. In addition to ill health, Grahame's retirement was precipitated in 1903 by a strange, possibly political, shooting incident at the bank. Grahame was shot at three times, all of them missed. Grahame's marriage to Elspeth Thomson was an unhappy one. They had only one child, a boy named Alastair, who was born blind in one eye and was plagued by health problems throughout his short life. Alastair eventually committed suicide on a railway track while an undergraduate at Oxford University, two days before his 20th birthday on 7 May, 1920. Out of respect for Kenneth Grahame, Alastair's demise was recorded as an accidental death. Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire in 1932.
