Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows A Children's Classic at 100

In 1908, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows was published to surprisingly little critical fanfare. Nonetheless, readers championed its cause, and Graham's novel of riverbank life soon proved both a commercial-and ultimately critical-success. One hundred years after its first publication, Grahame's book and its memorable characters continue their hold on the public imagination and have taken their place in the canon of children's literature. However, little academic criticism emerged in the wake of the book's initial publication. Only after the appearance of Peter Green's biocritical study did academics begin to wrestle with Graham's complex work, although many read it in terms of the author's often unhappy personal life.

Jackie C. Horne is a former children's book editor who has taught undergraduate and graduate courses as assistant professor at the Center for the Study Children's Literature, Simmons College. Donna R White is associate professor of English at Arkansas Tech University. She is the coeditor of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan In and Out of Time: A Children's Classic at 100 (Scarecrow, 2006).