<Tr> <Th> Publication date </Th> <Td> 15 June 1908 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Text </Th> <Td> The Wind in the Willows at Wikisource </Td> </Tr> <P> The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908 . Alternately slow - moving and fast - paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals in a pastoral version of Edwardian England . The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality and camaraderie, and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames Valley . </P> <P> In 1908, Grahame retired from his position as secretary of the Bank of England . He moved back to Berkshire, where he had lived as a child, and spent his time by the River Thames doing much as the animal characters in his book do--as the book says, "simply messing about in boats"--and expanding the bedtime stories he had earlier told his son Alastair into a manuscript for the book . </P>

When was the wind in the willows written