The wind in the willows

Kenneth Grahame8.03.1859–6.07.1932Was a British writer, one of the classics of children's literature. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he was the third child of a lawyer from an old Scottish family. His father was an alcoholic, and when his mother died of scarlet fever, the children were raised by their maternal grandparents in the village of Cookham Dene, which later proved to be the setting of "The Wind in the Willows." Many of his stories centered on a fictional family with five children whose adventures he had based upon his own childhood. His most famous short story, "The Reluctant Dragon" was published in 1898. And in 1899 he married Elsbeth Thomson. Grahame wrote his famous classic, "The Wind in the Willows" in part as a series of letters to his only child, Alistair, finally combining the letters with more writings into a book in 1908.