Books similar to Wind in the Willows

[AnotherKitKat]

I would be very grateful to receive children's book recommendations which are similar to Wind in the Willows which is my 5.5 year old son's favourite story as it contains an adventure by a group of friends. We have the Ladybird Classics version of it and he absolutely loves it. Looking forward to reading your recommendations!

I'm going to be annoyingly unhelpful and suggest that there really isn't anything quite like the un-abridged Wind in The Willows story. The original is really, really dark in places - even read as an adult.

But there are lots of Ladybird Classic abridgements of other books - has your son read them all?

Agree with George. The Wild Wood and the Piper at the Gates of Dawn still chill me at 46. In terms of similarities, I’d think in terms of other Golden Age chldren’s books — Peter Pan? The Narnia series? Also dark in their unabridged form, mind you, so other abridged classics might work best.

I'd agree George, but the Ladybird version is quite light-hearted. having said that ds loved the unabridged version at about 8yo (I read to him) although he did spend some of the story hiding under the duvet saying "go on!"

There's plenty of younger children's books that have some similarities to the Ladybird version. Try Beaver Towers series (small chapter books).It's about a boy called Philip (Baby Beaver calls him "Flippip" because he can't say it) who is whisked away on a kite to save the Beavers' land from a witch. The Mechanics (Mick, Ann and Nick) particularly had ds laughing. There's about 5 in the series, although the first two are the best.

Also you may find Ladybird versions of different classics. Maybe Black Beauty for another animal one? I remember loving the Gulliver's Travels and Swiss family Robinson in that set.

Stig of the Dump

5 children and It

Children of Castle Rock

The Secret Garden
Beatrix Potter
Winnie the Pooh

Percy the Park Keeper
Little Grey Rabbit
Tales from Brambly Hedge
The Hodgeheg
Fantastic Mr Fox
Charlotte’s Web
The Sheeppig
The Jungle Book
The Borrowers
Watership Down