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

Scholars of English, most specializing in children's literature, along with a few contributors from such fields as engineering and psychology, explore the role that the iconic children's novel has played in the history of children's literature, what social and historical issues it addressed, what cultural debates in attempted to intervene in, how it influenced readers beyond England and English, and how the author got so revered with only one book. Their topics include dialogic and carnivalesque qualities, a contemporary psychological understanding of Mr. Toad and his relationships, animal etiquette and Edwardian manners, locating Englishness within the commodity culture of the early 20th century, and the Chinese translation. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jackie C. Horne is a former children's book editor and assistant professor at the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College.

Donna R. White is associate professor of English at Arkansas Tech University. She is the author of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan In and Out of Time: A Children's Classic at 100 (Scarecrow, 2006).