The Wind in the Willows | Suggested Reading

The Wind in the Willows Related Titles

Although Kenneth Grahame wrote only one novel, The Wind in the Willows, he published three collections of his essays: Pagan Papers, The Golden Age, and Dream Days, all of which contain material on childhood. Grahame believed that the ages between four and seven were the most important years in the formation of any person's nature.

During those years, Grahame felt, children develop their power of imagination.

This idea was not popular at the time, and most people believed that an overactive imagination led only to wasteful daydreaming and that fairy tales and myths did more harm than good.

Grahame, on the other hand, thought that adults whose imaginations had been properly nurtured during childhood would be able to turn to their imaginary childhood world for spiritual rejuvenation.

Like many of his contemporaries— Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter de la Mare, Sir James Barrie,...
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