Gilberto and the Wind

Rating:
Summary: Gilberto and the Wind
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Gilberto and the Wind
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Hall lot of fun.
Review: Marie Hall is one of the most sensitive and accurate children's authors of our age, and with this, a wonderfully touching account of one young boy's struggle with wind, she's produced a timeless classic destined to be enjoyed for years to come by a whole host of enthralled readers, young and old.
The story is simple, but effortlessly charming. Gilberto, a young Brazilian boy, visits his grandfather, Edson Arantes de Nascimento, high in the mountains above Rio de Janeiro. Gilberto worships Edson, and longs to be able to play the nose flute as well as he. The wily old man reveals to his grandson that the secret lies in his diet. Gilberto is amazed to discover this diet consists entirely of pinto beans.
Wanting to impress his grandfather, Gilberto waits until the old man is asleep, and sneaks down to the kitchen to prepare a massive feast of pinto, the consequences of which cause much hilarity and provide the detail behind the book's cover picture. The beautifully written section where Gilberto struggles to contain the wind building up inside him whilst frantically struggling to keep his white hat tight to his head will stay in this reviewers "top ten beautifully written sections in books" list for a long time to come.
I can't rate this book highly enough. The powerful and explosive climax, in which a desperate Gilberto finally succumbs to the pressure building up inside him, and destroys his grandfather's flat, his pinto bean field, flattens a neighbouring shanty town, destroys the Maracana football stadium and sends the Cristo Redentor tumbling down the Corcovado Mountain might prove a little rich for some readers, but you can forgive Hall this slightly over-excited ending as the build-up to it has been so good.
All in all, a superb book, and not to be missed.