65. Old Mother West Wind

65. Old Mother West Wind. Thornton W. Burgess. 1910. 96 pages. [Source: Bought] [3 stars, children's classic, animal fantasy]

First sentence: Old Mother West Wind came down from the Purple Hills in the golden light of the early morning. Over her shoulders was slung a bag--a great big bag--and in the bag were all of Old Mother West Wind's children, the Merry Little Breezes. Old Mother West Wind came down from the Purple Hills to the Green Meadows and as she walked she crooned a song: "Ships upon the ocean wait; I must hurry, hurry on! Mills are idle if I'm late; I must hurry, hurry on."

Premise/plot: Old Mother West Wind is a children's classic; this children's fantasy novel was first published, I believe, in 1910. There isn't a central character--not really--nor a central plot. Each chapter is its own story. There are overlapping characters, but, in this one--at least--the characters don't have a tremendous amount of depth or substance. This classic does introduce characters that Thornton Burgess will feature in many, many, many more fantasy books through the decades.

My thoughts: I didn't love this one. I did LOVE The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum. I did love the characters in that one. By the time that one was published, Burgess' characters had more life and liveliness to them. I do plan on reading more of Thornton Burgess's novels.

 

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