The Wind Boy

"The Wind Boy" is a fantasy book by Ethel Cook Eliot. The book was originally published in 1923, and went out of print. This book was published again in 1945 [cite news |title=Simple Story of Founding of a Shrine |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/479419012.html?dids=479419012:479419012&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Aug+04%2C+1946&author=Edward+Wagenknecht&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune&desc=magazine+of+BOOKS&pqatl=google |work=Chicago Daily Tribune |date=August 4, 1946 |accessdate=2008-09-20 ] and 1996. It is recommend for children aged 9-10. [cite book |title=A Handbook of Children's Literature - Methods and Materials |last=Gardner |first=Emelyn E. |year=2007 |publisher=Read Books |isbn=9781406766332 |pages=p. 310 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zQUCP4m06ioC&pg=PA310&dq=%22The+Wind+Boy%22+%2BEliot&num=100&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U1Xc0ll_YHPK1kRcuT7dN4PK0nNsg |accessdate=2008-09-20]

Plot summary

Spoiler Warning

----

The novel is about a boy named Kay and a girl named Genetian who are foreign children and somewhat of outcasts in their village. They live with their mother and wait for their father to come to them from their home country. At the beginning of the book, a mysterious girl named Nan appears and asks their mother to hire her as a helper. Nan is able to bring the children into the fantastical Clear Land. There, they buy two pairs of magical shoes and meet The Wind Boy, a handsome boy with purple wings.

They learn that The Wind Boy once owned a horrible mask, but now it's in the hands of someone else. Now that person is going around scaring children. Until The Wind Boy is able to find and destroy the mask, he cannot have shoes of his own and is the outcast of the Clear Land. Only Genetian, who feels sorry for him, is friends with The Wind Boy.

Kay and Genetian's mother is a sculpter who is trying to make a statuatte of The Wind Boy. She visits the Clear Land herself without really knowing it, where she is seen through a clear pool of water. While there, she tells The Wind Boy stories, so that he can smile and she can perfect the statuette. After seeing a starry cloak that Nan has, Genetain is allowed to visit the Clear Land to make her own. The children continue visit the Clear Land quite a few times, once during a punishment in school.

The house next door to the children's home belongs to a famous artist and his daughter, Rosemary. Rosemary is very pretty and Kay wishes that he could play with her, however Rosemary is homeschooled and constantly in the charge of a strict governess.

Kay eventually finds out the masked person is actually Rosemary, who is lonely and wants a friend badly. Kay tells Rosemary about The Wind Boy and she agrees to leave the mask for him to destroy (as she grew up sheltered, Rosemary had no idea that she had frightened people so much with the mask). Shortly after, a police officer catches Kay with the mask and assumes that he was the one wearing it. Nan throws the mask into the air where The Wind Boy destroys it. She then visits Rosemary in the middle of the night and pursuades the girl to confess to her father about wearing the mask. Rosemary does so and her father decides to send her to the village school so that she would have friends.

Rosemary quickly befriends Kay and Genetian in the school and the children's mother is able to finish The Wind Boy statuette. The artist likes it so much that he purchases it from her and arranges to have a larger bronze version constructed. Genetian is sad because she is unable to reach The Wind Boy and fears that now that he is no longer an outcast he would not wish to be her friend. She finally realizes that The Wind Boy would never abandon her and is able to find him again. He tells her that he could not see her when she didn't believe in him as a friend and the two leave to explore the Clear Land.

At the end of the story, Nan announces that she is going to return to her home in the mountains. The children are sad, but Nan explains to them that if she doesn't go home, they can't possibly come to visit her. As Nan leaves, Kay and Genetian's father returns.

Main characters

*Genetian-an eight year old girl with copper hair, Kay's younger sister.
*Kay- a boy also with copper colored hair, Genetian's older brother.
*Nan- a very pretty girl with shoulder-length hair and eyes like the mountains. She is more than she seems, and she is the one who takes Kay and Genetian into the Clear Land for the first time.
*The Wind Boy-a blonde haired boy with magnificent purple wings, probably a few years older than Genetian and Kay.
*Rosemary- a pretty girl that Kay wishes he knew better. She lives in a rich family.
*The Masked Figure- a person wearing a horrible mask who has been scaring children.

References

*cite journal|date=2000-08-07|title=Reviews: Spoken Word|journal=Publishers Weekly|volume=Vol. 247|issue=Issue 32|pages=p31 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28165980_ITM |accessdate=2008-09-20
*cite journal|last=Craft|first=Lori|date=2000-10-01|title=The Wind Boy|journal=School Library Journal|pages=p98 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28530479_ITM |accessdate=2008-09-20

External links

* [http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0961596147/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?%5Fencoding=UTF8&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R2C4JE9BVBT2H7]
* [http://www.chinaberry.com/prod.cfm/pgc/11400/sbc/11402/inv/8069]