Customer Reviews

The Wind on the Moon (Kelpies)

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The other two being Tom Sawyer and The Wind in the Willows. OK, perhaps I exaggerate. But not much. I first read it when I was about 9 and now - more than 40 years latter - I still have a worn paperback copy I keep by my bed for sleepless nights. And I'm puzzled that the feminists haven't ``discovered'' it yet. Dinah and Dorinda are two forceful, determined and extraordinarily naughty heroines.

As a child living temporarily with my mother in London, four books got me through: The Wind on the Moon and also The Pink Ballet Slippers by Evelyn S. Dehkes and Ballet Shoes and Theatre Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. However, as others have commented, The Wind on the Moon is the one I've reread the most. My old hardcover edition is well-loved, and it is probably no coincidence that my all-time favorite book also is about two sisters: The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett. It is wonderful to see The Wind on the Moon back in print and to give it as a gift for today's children to discover and enjoy. It is absolutely magical.

This book made such an impression on me as a child twenty years ago that I have tried to track it down ever since. A friend lent me a copy a few years ago and I had the chance to read it as an adult. I was not disappointed. The vivid images had stayed with me and resonated as freshly as they had when I was ten years old. I can't believe such a book would be out of print for so long - I'm sure the demand would be there if a publisher was prepared to take the risk and reprint it!

My Mum gave me this book when I was about ten. It had been given to her when she was a girl by her sunday school group for attendance. I loved it!
I lost it though, and have grieved quietly for the last 20 years. This is an unreal childrens book, and one that I look forward to reading to and with my children. I just wish I still had the original hard cover that belonged to my late Mum. It was something we shared.
My favourite bit was in the back of the specially packed lorry where they had their own house amongst the furniture. I used to rearrange our loungeroom, and Mum would help stuffing cushions and towels and draping tablecloths until I had my own little world.
I'm not going to spoil it by giving away the storyline, but it was written with real imagination and a fantastic sense of childhood adventure. An absolute must for any classic collection.

This book for children is absolutely brilliant.
One day, when I was eleven (in 1958), my eldest brother gave this book to me, and I remember reading it more than once.
I could never forget the friendship Dorinda and Dinah enjoyed with the silver falcon and the golden puma, nor title or name of the author.
Throughout my adult life I hoped to one day discover this book again, to find out why it had left an indelible feeling of longing to read it again.
Recently I purchased a pc.
My friends told me about Amazon, that many old and new books could be found and bought there.
I was very happy to see The Wind on the Moon appear on my screen!
I ordered the book, and when it arrived, every night before going to sleep I read and read, and again the uniquely enchanting story, full of unexpected turns and white magic, made it quite impossible to stop reading and go to sleep.
The cover is lovely, the pictures are wonderful, and the letters are just
the right size, not too small.
The conversations between Dinah and Dorinda are masterly, and the entire adventure they experience is a dream for young and old!
I never knew that this book won the Carnegie Medal, and that it was nominated for best book of 1944.
It is amazing it did not win the price for best book of that year.
Young and old will forget all the worries in the world while reading
The Wind on the Moon.

The Wind on the Moon (New York Review Children's Collection)

Believe it or not, I read it as a child in my native Romania, in Romanian translation. The book had its original format and illustrations. I was totally enthralled by the book, and read it over and over again. I even brought it with me to the U.S., planning to translate it... back into English for my own children, when I found out that it has been re-published! I hope that there are new generations of children who will enjoy this book as much as I did.

This book kept me gripped as I waited to find the latest twist in the tale and I was never disappointed; it containedg everything from sorcery to high adventure. Dinah and Dorinda are daring, brave and mischevious. This book should certainly be brought back into print and everyone should read it.

"When there is wind on the moon, you must be very careful how you behave. Because if it is an ill wind and you behave badly, it will blow straight into your heart, and then you will behave badly for a long time to come." These words uttered by Major Palfrey, Dinah and Dorinda's father, is a foretelling of a year's worth of naughtiness for the two girls. With their father gone, they do their best to make mischief as when they try to do good they end up getting scolded anyway.

First the sisters eat too many pies, steaks and bread to blow themselves up into the shape of balloons. Then, after the village kids prick them with pins to see if they would burst, they cried themselves thin. Their real adventures begin with thoughts of revenge.

With the help of Mrs. Grimble, they bewitch themselves into kangaroos ("I have often wondered what I shall be when I grow up, whether a teacher of dancing, or a circus rider, or a mother of ten, but never, never, never did I expect to be a kangaroo."). With kicks, leaps and bounds they terrify the village people. But their rampage is short-lived. Lassoed by the zoo's owner and caretaker, they are caged and tended as other zoo animals. Here, they solve the mystery of lost Ostrich eggs and free two beasts who become their loyal friends.

Their appetite for naughtiness and cleverness whetted, they turn their attention to freeing their beloved dancing teacher from the county jail. All this is just preparation for the greatest escape adventure of all, rescuing their father from the castle dungeons of a far country.

Eric Linklater's humor shines and the plot zigs and zags unexpectedly. Dorinda and Dinah will be the envy of any child who yearns to take their naughtiness to a higher level.

Caution: Some sentiments in the book may be offensive to some: that fat people are ugly or a person whose face is blackened by dirt looks like a 'negro'.

Overall it is a fun romp with two very naughty girls. Just one thing boggles this reader's mind: Why doesn't their mother ever notice them missing for days or weeks at a time?

This was one of my favorite books as a child. I found it in a dusty corner of the library, and I think I was the only one to have checked in out in years. When I was a teenager, I found it in a booksale at the same library and bought it for 50 cents. I later realized it's a copy from the first printing. As such, it's in really bad shape - especially having once been a library book. I was so glad to hear it was being reprinted.

This story is just magical - I remember getting lost in it. It's one of those classics like the Narnia Chronicles and Harry Potter - a story you can literally sink into and forget where and who you are. These are the types of books that instill a love of reading in kids. I hope to one day give the Wind on the Moon to my own children.

This really is a fantastic read. Magical, strange, funny and sometimes sad. I was forever getting the hardback copy of this from my local library. A real treat for readers of all ages. The pictures (drawn by Nicolas Bently) are most fitting.