Forget that I have been too busy to read let alone write or even sit. I’ve found it difficult to attach words to this particular book. It’s simply whimsical and wonderful.
I’ve probably told this story before. I read the reviews for this book and knew that I had to read it. I knew that we had to purchase it. I knew that I wanted to be first. In the old days, I would have put 5 copies in the cart. I’m pretty certain that I asked for at least two. But under the current budget freeze, I’m thrilled to have one.
After reading the jacket cover, I promptly put my name within the pages like a bookmark patiently waiting for my turn to check it out. When it was finally mine, I placed it on my dresser to savor it for a while, not wanting to break the glorious anticipation.
At one point I added another slip of paper to the pages. It is a list of other tales that it reminds me of. The Pied Piper, Mary Poppins, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Land of Oz, Some Willy Wonka and a dash of Seuss. See? WHIMSICAL!
Windblowne is a town that resides at the top of a mountain. It is notable for its sturdy oak trees – where its inhabitants live – and its powerful winds. And if Rockville, Indiana is known for its annual Covered Bridge Festival, Windblowne is famous for Ye Olde Festival of Kites and it is the 455th year!
Very much like Californians surf, Windblownians fly – kites. Every child learns to build and fly kites much like our children learn to ride bikes. The best kite makers are revered. The champion flyers – ride. There is even a contest to see who can jump/fly/ride the farthest. The standing record is marked with a granite rock.
Then there is Oliver. He is a strange boy with a strange family. His father writes dull, boring, long histories of Windblowne that nobody reads. He hardly lifts his pen from his paper to focus upon his son. Oliver’s mother is an artist who makes sculptures that litter their yard begging for a buyer, but no one, not even Oliver, understands them.
And then there is Oliver. Try as he might, he cannot build a kite that will fly. Worse – when given a fine kite TO fly, Oliver manages to destroy it. Oliver has no talent for the very the skills that are nurtured and honored in his hometown.
On the advent of the Kite Festival, Oliver has no flyable kite to enter into the competitions and Oliver’s father suggests he find his Great-uncle Gilbert for assistance. He has a Great-uncle Gilbert? Yes, apparently he is a champion builder of kites who was banished from the Kite Festival long ago for his heretical inventiveness.
Oliver finds his Great-uncle Gilbert almost too easily. And he finds much more than a strange, secretive old gentleman. Oliver finds kites that eat other kites, kites that attack other kites, a kite that flies by itself AND another Oliver! An Oliver who seems to have the gift for building amazing kites. Oh, and he finds one of his father’s books with notes scribbled in the margins. It’s the scribbles that provide the clue to the extra Oliver…
The magnificent oak trees of Windblowne are shared with multiple (thousands? billions?) Windblownes. Many different Windblownes with many different histories. And the kite that flies by itself has the ability to fly Oliver from Windblowne to Windblowne.
Unfortunately, not only is there another Oliver, but there is another, evil Great-uncle Gilbert who has plans to conquer and rule the worldS. Of course, it is Oliver’s job to defeat him before it is too late. But first, he must discover his own unique talent.
I'll recommend it to everyone! although it is geared towards the middle school grades.
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