Synopsis
A young girl embarks on a journey to find her brother, lost at the Well of the Wind, only to find him turned to stone, in a beautifully illustrated story of young girl's courage overcoming old evil.
Reviews
Grade 3-5-Though there are no source notes, this selection bears many classical motifs: three tasks, foster children with surprising identities, and even a spinning building. The narrative begins with a fisherman finding two babies in a crystal box. They have a red silk cloth between them, from which the man fashions headbands to hide the stars on the children's foreheads. Their guardian dies when the youngsters are half grown, leaving them in his shack on the beach. Then a witch starts coming around, sending the boy off on quests designed to kill him. With a little help from a thin man on the road, he survives the first two trials, but does not return from the third. It is up to his whistling sister to achieve a happy conclusion, which of course is a reunion, not only of the siblings, but also of the children and their birth parents, the king and queen. This is a big disappointment from Garner. The spare writing style that made The Stone Book (Collins, 1978; o.p.) so breathtaking leaves too many gaps here. The brevity also robs the story of any emotion. There is no grief over the dead foster father, no worries about the brother, and the king and queen show up too late to be of any use, except to tie up the tale. The artwork is as sterile as the text and makes as much sense. Done in an abstract, realistic style, the muted earth-toned pictures are full of sharp angles and odd perspectives. In combination with the weak story, the dreary illustrations create a leaden whole.
Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In this haunting, enigmatic tale, a pair of abandoned children unwittingly embark on a quest. A benevolent fisherman discovers a brother and sister floating in a crystal box and takes them into his home, then dies. Next a witch attempts to endanger the siblings by sending the boy on magical missions in which death seems certain: to the springs of silver, to the acorns of gold and to the Well of the Wind. Each time, the boy is saved from peril by warnings from "a thin man in the woods"Auntil the last, when the child disappears and the girl's search for him leads them both back to their parents. Sunburnt orange and smoky blue pastels, at times reminiscent of Cezanne's Cubist works, link the children's surroundings: the roof of the house to the cliffs and sand, and the sea to the sky above them. French illustrator Blondon uses flat planes and geometric shadows to create a topsy-turvy world that seems hushed and violent, soothing and affronting at the same time. His velvety-textured colors look dense enough to taste. Although the meaning of Garner's (Owl Service) tale may not be immediate to some readers, it shares enough with classic fairy tales (including a happy ending) to content novice readers and takes enough turns to stimulate aficionados. A thought-provoking fantasy full of enchantment. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A man in a boat, fishing, finds a boy and girl floating in a crystal box. He takes care of them, but soon dies. Growing up alone in the man's hut, the children are visited by a witch, who sends the boy on three impossible quests. He accomplishes the first two with help from a mysterious thin man in the woods, but fails to return from the third. His sister finds him turned to stone and rescues him, acquiring a diamond on the way; they decide to present it to the king and queen, who turn out to be their real parents. Stylized prose is matched by highly stylized, almost geometric illustrations done largely in warm shades of orange. The story has the rhythm, repetitiveness, and threefold structure of classic fairytales; it's without characterizations, while the reasons for the children's abduction and manipulation by the witch remain mysterious. Still, it is satisfying, and casts a lovely spell. (Folklore. 7-11) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Gr. 4^-7. Garner's tale may call up images of familiar children's stories and fairy tales, but it has a freshness all its own. The multilayered story is pure fantasy, and the language, lyrical and quiet, is replete with imagery that blossoms outward from the plot. "Whether far or near, I can't say, but once there was a poor man living in a kingdom by the sea." The man rescues two children, a boy and a girl, floating on the sea in a crystal box. After he dies, an evil witch tries to harm the children, eventually enticing the boy to visit the Well of the Wind with promises of finding a "white bird of perfect feather." When the boy doesn't return to his waiting sister, she goes in search of him, and the story becomes hers. The suspense is riveting as she struggles against fantastic odds to free her brother from the sorceress' power. Language and creative-writing teachers will have a heyday with the imagery, the feminist underpinnings, and the wonderful use of fantasy conventions, but the story is also one that independent readers will like, replete with suspense, ingenious touches, and connections to ponder. The accompanying art is impressive. Blondon's dramatic and highly stylized paintings differ greatly from the usual fairy tale artwork, giving the book a much older, more contemporary feel. His flowing lines, slashes of light and dark, and great blocks of hazy, heated color intriguingly reflect the contradiction between the dreaminess and the tension of the story. Stephanie Zvirin
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