The illustration by Inga Moore of Mr.Toad and his friends is from the Wind in the Willows.
The Possibilities
Fantasy, Hope, and Tales That Were Told
"By entering the world of fantasy and imagination, children and adults secure for themselves a safe space where fears can be confronted, mastered, and banished. Beyond that, the real magic of the fairy tale lies in its ability to extract pleasure from pain. In bringing to life the dark figures of our imagination as ogres, witches, cannibals, and giants, fairy tales may stir up dread, but in the end they always supply the pleasure of seeing it vanquished." -- Maria Tatar in her Introduction to The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales.
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The Golden Age
Fantasy
The delightful illustration on the left is by E.H. Shephard from the original edition of Kenneth Grahame's classic book, The Wind In The Willows. The book has delighted children and adults alike for over 100 years. It was one of the many exceptional books published in the Golden Age of children's books, an era that lasted from the late nineteenth century to World War One. They include Peter Rabbit, The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, Tom Sawyer, The Wizard of OZ, Pinocchio, and Ann of Green Gables,. Children's book publishers were flourishing. It was also during this era that wonderful illustrators like E.H. Shephard, Arthur Rackham. Sir John Tenniel, Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, Kay Neilson, and Walter Crane became important.
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Mr.Toad and the Edwardian World
Toad is probably the most well known character in the Wind In the Willows. He also has appeared in several books by other writers as well as plays, movies, and TV.
Toad, as a denizen of Edwardian England is also a parody of the upper class. Although a very nice fellow (in his own words), he was also self-centered, self-important, impetuous, and rather indifferent to most others. He was a satirical version of the immature country gentleman who inherited his wealth.
Seth Lerer wrote a history of "Children's Literature from Aesop to Harry Potter". in which he writes cohesively about the Edwardian Era, The Golden Age, and The Wind in the Willows. Mr. Toad appears in the book several times. Here is an excerpt that relates Toad's world to Edwardianism.
"For The Wind in the Willows sweetness and decorum are the two poles of its nostalgia. And yet, here the vision of Victorian England lies less in garden party photographs than in the technological inventions that would captivate the fancies of the rich: new playthings such as motorcars, new challenges to nature, new threats to country sweetness and social decorum. Toad lives at the epicenter of Edwardian anxiety in the book. His fascination with the motorcar, his appetites, his mania, all descend into theater. Toad stands as something of a figure for Edwardianism itself. . ."
The illustrations are by E.A. Shephard (top) and Inga Moore (bottom).
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Mr. Toad and His Motorcar Obsession
"In the story, Mr. Toad is a crazed follower of the latest fads and has become an obsessive motorist after having his horse-drawn vehicle forced off the road by a passing automobile. “What dust clouds shall spring up before me as I speed on my reckless way!” he declares, on his conversion from horse-drawn to motor vehicles. Before long he has crashed seven cars, been in the hospital three times, and paid a fortune in fines for motoring offenses. His friends try to prevent him from pursuing his dangerous hobby by placing him under house arrest, but he escapes, steals a car, and ends up in prison. He then escapes, steals the same car again, and drives it into a river." Tom Standage, Lit Hub
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There are several occasions in Grahame's world where the beauty and mysteries of the natural world evoke moments of wonder.
“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
― The Wind in the Willows
The illustration of Mole from The Wind In the Willows is by E. H. Shephard.
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Reality and The Edwardian (Golden) Age
There was a dark side to this self-satisfied culture of power and prosperity known as the Edwardian Age -- named for the British King who succeeded Queen Victoria.The ruling oligarchies of Western Europe were marked by incompetence, lust for more power and wealth, and arrogance. They exploited weaker cultures and after centuries were finally emerging from years of barbaric colonialism.
Ultimately, the oligarchies are responsible for the deaths and suffering of World War One.
The painting of King Edward is by Sir Luke Fildes.
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The Golden Age Ended with World War One.
Death and Pain Were Everywhere,
Poets Were Serving in the Trenches.
Here are excerpts from a poem . . .
To Any Dead Officer BY SIEGFRIED SASSOON
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To Our Readers,
This will be our final blog for an indefinite period, Thank you.
Robert
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Going Back
“Yesterday I visited the battlefield of last year. The place was scarcely recognisable. Instead of a wilderness of ground torn up by shell, the ground was a garden of wild flowers and tall grasses. Most remarkable of all was the appearance of many thousands of white butterflies which fluttered around. It was as if the souls of the dead soldiers had come to haunt the spot where so many fell. It was eerie to see them. And the silence! It was so still that I could almost hear the beat of the butterflies’ wings.”
Unnamed British officer, 1919
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A Fairy Tale Is More Than Just a Fairy Tale
When some one says to you – and I’ve heard this comment in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian – “that’s just a fairy tale,” it generally means that what you have just said is untrue or unreal. It is a polite but deprecating way of saying that your words form a lie or gossip. Your story is make-believe and unreliable. It has nothing to do with reality and experience. Fairy tale is thus turned into some kind of trivial story – silly, infantile, not to be believed. Moreover, fairy tales are allegedly for children, amusing stories to pass the time away and to be dismissed. If children believe in them, read them and listen to them, they cannot be taken seriously.
Yet, we all know that the opposite is true. We all know that we believe or want to believe in fairy tales. We are all ready to answer Peter Pan’s monumental question whether we believe in fairy tales with a resounding “yes!” We all know that fairy tales are tied to real life experiences more than we pretend they aren’t. We ward off fairy tales and pretend that they are intended mainly for children because they tell more truth than we want to know, and we absorb fairy tales because they tell us more truth than we want to know. They are filled with desire and optimism. They drip with brutality, bluntness, violence, and perversity. They expose untruth, and the best are bare, brusque, and concise. They stamp our minds and perhaps our souls. They form another world, a counter world, in which social justice is more readily attained than in our actual world where hypocrisy, corruption, hyping, exploitation, and competition determine the outcome of social and political interactions and the quality of social relations...
This is a wonderful article. Here is a link to read it all. Jack Zipes OUP
The illustration of Little Red Riding Hood is by Nickolaus Heibelbach. The illustration of the Mad Tea Party is by John Tenniel.
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Original, Imaginative, Independent. Animation
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Link: FF2 Time: 1.42
La jeune fille et les nuages
Created by Georges Schwizgebel
He is quite prolific
Link; La Jeune fille et les nuages Time: 38
Ukraine: Only 125 of the nearly 14,000 children forcibly transferred by Russia have been successfully returned home.
Kidnapping by Putin's People. It starts with a bus ride.
Daria Herasymchuk, assistant to the President of Ukraine responsible for children's rights, said at a press conference on Tuesday that only 125 children forcibly transferred by Russia have been returned to Ukraine. Kyiv Independent reports about it .
According to Herasymchuk, Russia has illegally transferred nearly 14,000 children from Ukraine during the war.
"We managed to identify and confirm information on at least 13,899 children who were abducted and transferred by the Russian army, and unfortunately we can say that only 125 of them have been able to be returned home," Herasymchuk said, according to the Kyiv Independent.
According to the human rights assistant, Russian forces have killed 456 children during the war and an additional 897 children have been injured.
The human rights organization Amnesty International reported in November that Russian forces have forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians from occupied territories to other areas and further to Russia.
The forced transfers have been so systematic and extensive that, according to Amnesty, it is probably a crime against humanity.
The US think tank Institute for the Study of War reported earlier that Ukrainian children, among other things, are ostensibly taken on vacation to Russia, but in reality they end up being adopted there by Russian families.
ne Kids Voiceless Ask any dog...do you enjoy kids reading dog stories to you?
If you have a therapy reading dog and like the idea of kids reading dog books to dogs, send us an email at planetofthedogs@ gmail.com, and we'll send you a complimentary book from the Planet Of The Dogs Series. Your choice.
We will also send complimentary reader copies to librarians and teachers with therapy reading dog programs. The photo by Susan Purser is of her nephew Chase, reading Castle In The Mist with Bandit, her therapy dog.
"If children want to find out and delight about their identity, I strongly suggest you surprise them with Why am I ?, a colorful book about a curious tiny dog who searches for answers about his identity. This existential story will make your heart beat with joy."
-- Jack Zipes, Author, professor emeritus of German, comparative literature, and cultural studies.
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Prince Ukko, the ruthless leader of the Blackhawk tribe, has kidnapped the two children of his rival, Bik, the Warrior Chief of Stone City. There will be war unless the dogs can free the children from The Castle In The Mist.
" I feel Castle in the Mist is also a beautifully-crafted tale. This particular book has a slightly darker tone, but is still completely readable by children. As a matter-of-fact my 10-year-old son, Michael, says the book is 'great' and thinks: 'it is cool that the dogs come from their own planet.' As well, the illustrations really give depth and visual characterization to the manuscript."
Charyl Miller Pingleton -- The Uncommon Review
Illustration by Stella Mustanoja McCarty
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"Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish, a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and carefree as a dog."
James Thurber
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