英国作家安吉拉·卡特在翻译夏尔·贝洛童话时发现，所有摇篮故事都是精心乔装的政治寓言，动物是被压抑的性欲，是人性中的野兽，童话可以揭示人试图将自己区别于动物的那些谎言，这提示了我们童话在疗愈、教育之外的作用。
Kenneth Grahame was born in 1859 in Edinburgh， Scotland. His mother died when he was five. His father sent Kenneth， his sister and two brothers to England， to live with their grandmother. They lived in a big old house in Cookham， Berkshire， near woods and the river Thames. Their uncle， David Ingies， taught them about the river and about boats. Many people think this is where Kenneth Grahame got his ideas for The Wind in the Willows. Kenneth Grahame went to St Edward's School in Oxford. He was a very good student， and wanted to go to university. But his family was poor， so he started work at the Bank of England instead. He did very well there. When he was 39，he got an important job as secretary of the Bank of England. By this time he had been married with a young son， Alastair. Kenneth Grahame and his family moved back to Cookham. At night Kenneth told Alastair stories about the woods， the river and its animals. He started writing these stories and later they became The Wind in the Willows. The book came out in1908and Kenneth left his job at the bank But sadly， Alastair Grahame was often ill. He died when he was only20.After his son's death， Kerneth Grahame did not write another book. He died in 1932 肯尼斯·格拉哈姆1859年出生于苏格兰爱丁堡。许多人认为这就是肯尼斯·格拉哈姆创作《柳林风声》的地方。
主人公是四只动物，按登场顺序分别是:鼹鼠、河鼠、獾、蟾蜍。獾、鼹鼠、河鼠用心劝导迷途的蟾蜍，像极了我们身边的好朋友，在蟾蜍遇到困难时，这些朋友又一起出谋划策，并肩战斗，獾、河鼠对他人无私的帮助代表了人类社会中宝贵的利他精神，看完之后，小朋友可以学到一些基本的处事方式，朋友之间要互帮互助。
童话告诉我们，善良的人会有好报，做坏事会受到惩罚，努力的人都会得到幸福。《柳林风声 The wind in willows》，是英国作家肯尼斯·格雷厄姆为患有眼疾的儿子编写的睡前故事，1908年第一次出版。
