The Wind in the Willows (Papercutz)

Most of us know the story The Wind in the Willows and the four main characters of Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. They are four friends whose differences in personality help enhance their friendship. There are several themes that you can notice in this book including trying to find your place in the world, man vs. society, social classes, technology, adventure, and friendship. Each of the four main characters has an adventure. Toad actually has adventures and misadventures.

What makes the Classics Illustrated Edition different and special? For starters, it is a graphic novel/comic book. Each page is eloquently drawn animation that puts picture to story. The level of detail is extraordinary too. The comic flows much like the story with alternating action and lull. That's sometimes hard to pull off in comic format, but Michel Plessix did it well. I could have read through this entire book in an hour but the pictures kept drawing me in. I wanted to study them and appreciate them for their beauty.

What are the drawbacks of this book? As this is an adaptation, this will not be an exact replication of the book. It's like a movie in a way. Some dialogue gets shortened. Chapters get omitted, i.e., Chapter 9 -Wayfarer's All is skipped over. However, I really appreciated that they encourage you to read the actual book at the end. While this is a great way for younger readers to get introduced to the book, it is no substitute for the original. As this was my first introduction to this series, I am very pleased with what I saw and read. I hope others in the series will be as impressive as this one.

This book was provided to me for free by Papercutz. If you found the review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!