Customer Reviews

Gilberto and the Wind (Picture Puffin Books)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fanastic introduction to a unit or discussion on wind. Gilberto is a little boy experiencing and playing with the wind. Beautiful illustrations. My kindergarten class was enthralled with it.

Marie Hall Ets has written several lovely, understated stories about small children interacting with the natural world. In this one, young Gilberto tells about his interaction with Wind, which introduces itself by whispering "You-ou-ou," then whips his balloon out of his hands and carries it into a tree. Throughout the story, Wind expresses many moods -- playful, capricious, stormy, and finally quiescent. Gilberto lies down and goes to sleep with the wind beneath a tree.

This story captures the character of one of the natural world's most mysterious elements, describing its different forms in a way that a small child can easily grasp. The wind is faceless, and we view Gilberto mostly from the side or the back as he interacts with his invisible "friend." The illustrations, like many from the early 1960's, are rendered in three colors only, but Ets makes the most of them, creating dramatic contrasts and a mysterious mood. An excellent read.

My two-year-old son loves this sweet, evocative description of a preschooler's interactions with the many faces of Wind. The pictures are lovely and take you to a wide-open landscape where this little boy is at home with his natural environment. I especially enjoy seeing Gilberto's variety of low-tech, self-directed entertainment (flying a kite, running in the grass, riding on a gate, playing with a pinwheel and soap bubbles).

Whimsical and gentle, this is a thoughtful book about a little boy and his friend, the wind.