- Who is it for?
- Ages 10–14
- How long is it?
- 29 min
- What does it include?
- Synced read-along and a quiz
- What does it cost?
- Premium access in Emma's Library
About this audiobook
Mole abandons his underground house one spring morning and falls in love with the river and with kindly Ratty, who teaches him there's nothing half so worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Their friend Toad of Toad Hall lurches from craze to craze until motor-cars possess him — 'Poop-poop!' — and his reckless driving lands him in a dungeon. Meanwhile Mole braves the fearful Wild Wood and is taken in by gruff, good Badger. Toad escapes prison disguised as a washerwoman and races home to find the Hall overrun by weasels and stoats; so the four friends — Mole, Rat, Badger, and a chastened Toad — arm themselves, storm the Hall through a secret tunnel, and win it back, with Toad (very nearly) reformed at last.
Why it's worth a listen
Mole throws down his spring-cleaning brush, pops up into the sunshine, and meets the Water Rat — and a whole cosy world of picnics, riverbanks, and the maddest, most lovable friend in fiction, the boastful Mr. Toad. It is the warmest book ever written about friendship: half a gentle daydream of the river and half a rollicking romp as Toad crashes motor-cars, breaks out of prison dressed as a washerwoman, and has to be saved from himself by friends who never give up on him. And it turns on the question this telling leaves you with: what calls you more strongly — the wide world's adventures, or the friends and the home that wait for you?
What listeners will learn
Subjects: literature, storytelling, historical imagination.
- character
- setting
- conflict
- choice
- consequence
- theme
- retelling
- wind
- willows
- classic
Questions for after listening
- Retell the central conflict in order.
- Name one important choice and what happened because of it.
- How did the setting or tradition shape the story?
A question to keep
What calls you more strongly — the wide world's adventures, or the friends and the home that wait for you?
Chapters
- The River and the Blue Sky
- The Wild Road and the Golden Car
- Into the Wild Wood
- The Escape of the Washerwoman
- The Battle of Toad Hall
- A Question to Keep
Editorial review
Quality reviewed · 96/100 on . Certificate EL-84AB-7E55 is bound to the exact narrated script.
The review checks factual care, audience fit, teaching quality, structure, tone and source honesty. Read the editorial standards.
Published 2026-07-11 · Updated
