Wind In The Willows App

"I think I can safely say that today we have seen a milestone adaptation of The Wind in the Willows that will introduce Kenneth Grahame and the story to a whole new generation." - Nigel McMorris, Chairman, Kenneth Grahame Society.

Over 190 pages of fully illustrated interactive storytelling. Drive Toad’s vintage motorcar, and make the tyres squeal! Or - if you dare - open Badger’s front door, deep in The Wild Wood. Create butterflies out of thin air for little Mole, as he comes up into the daylight. Play music with the band of weasels, and throw a rock from the bridge to sink Toad’s boat. While you read the story, the stars turn in the sky, and the moon rises up as if on wires.

Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale for children is carefully adapted for the iPad with beautiful interactive illustrations. The Wind In The Willows is a eulogy for the spiritual and material comforts of home, a world conjured with enduring charm and humour by Kenneth Grahame. He wrote it for his own son, Alastair, who never grew old enough to find a home of his own.

One early spring morning, an English country mole senses the strengthening of the sunlight and struggles to the surface. Mole stumbles across something new, something incredible to him – a riverbank. He makes friends with a water rat, who takes him for the first time ever in a boat, and shows him how to enjoy an extravagant picnic. Rat teaches Mole all about boats and life on the river, and warns him of the perils of the Wild Wood – dangers that Mole will encounter for himself, when he gets lost in the Wild Wood and the trees talk with mouths, and each hole in the ground has a little face. Rat introduces Mole to the infamous Toad of Toad Hall, who seizes on them as companions for an expedition in a gypsy caravan. The idyllic journey ends in a disastrous road accident – but Toad doesn’t care that the horse has galloped off, that the gypsy caravan lies in ruins, because he has caught sight of the one thing he will love for evermore: that glorious, lovely, exciting machine, the motor car. Toad is rich enough to indulge his love of powerful cars, but it means nothing but trouble: accidents, hospital visits and endless legal wranglings. It’s Badger who leads their attempt to save Toad from himself, but it means that all four creatures - Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger - find themselves on a difficult, perilous journey in order to try and help Toad escape from jail and return home. And when they do arrive home it is far from over: in their absence Toad Hall has been taken over by creatures from the Wild Wood, and they must find a way to win it back for Toad.

Note that the app does not have a "read aloud" feature. It does however provide links to where you can download a free audio version of the original, complete, text. Versions are also available for iPhone.