title: A Wind In the Willows Christmas
author: Michael Hague
description: Gr. 3-5, younger for reading aloud. Readers of <i>The Wind in the Willows </i> will remember the Christmas chapter "Dulce Domum," here slightly abridged and presented as a separate book. Rat and Mole are walking hurriedly through a forest one snowy night when a half-forgotten scent leads Mole down a tunnel to his former home. Field mice arrive as carolers, who join the pair for a merry Christmas Eve at Mole End. Most of the text is left unchanged; a note mentions the five paragraphs that were shortened. Though readers already familiar with Rat and Mole will find the full tale's essential poignancy more resonant, the abridgment respects the original text, and the story works as a separate book. Hague contributes a series of gouache paintings, which are warm in color, vivid in action, and full of lively details. A handsome Christmas book, this may inspire some children to read <i>The Wind in the Willows</i> . <i>Carolyn Phelan</i><br><i>Copyright &#169; American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
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  A Very Cougar Christmas
  
  
  Copyright
  
  
  © 2008 Winterheart
  
  
  The rain was relentless. Not that Vincent cared. He had no reason to go out in
  it.
  
  
  However, the scene outside his window was damned dreary and depressing. The
  condo complex he lived in was landscaped to be all woodsy with twisting
  streams and paths that included little bridges. The huge plate glass window of
  his spare bedroom/office looked out over the bridge that led to his building.
  His condo and his neighbor’s shared a path to their combined front deck. On
  the backside of their building were two identical condos, but they were out of
  sight and another path led to them.
  
  
  The rain had been coming down in sheets all day. Now, at three in the
  afternoon it was almost as dark as night. Still, Vince could see that the
  complex’s streams were swollen and rushing beneath the bridges, the pathways
  flooded and muddy. He felt bad for those residents who had to lug something
  home in this weather. The garages were all 