The Wind Singer

The first novel of William Nicholson’s elementary school trilogy Wind on Fire is The Wind Singer, published in 2000. Set in a world of enigmatic city-states and surrounding tribes, the novel follows the adventures of twins tasked with finding an ancient artifact to defend their city from a distant, powerful, mind-controlling ruler. Readers have pointed out that the book’s whimsy and simple message of the value of nonconformity hide potentially troubling and unaddressed themes of primitive “noble savage” tropes, male chauvinism, and indiscriminate murder of innocents.

The novel’s opening is set in the city of Aramanth, a wealthy metropolis founded long ago by the Manth people who thrived on trade from their salt mines. In the middle of the city stands the Wind Singer, a giant statue that was originally built as a defense weapon. After Aramanth was conquered by Morah and her Zar army, the Manth people gave up the piece of the Wind Singer that activated its defensive capabilities, rendering it nonfunctional.

Amaranth is run on a strict system of meritocracy. Starting at age two, each resident is relentlessly tested and measured, with rankings assigned to each family based on its combined intelligence and knowledge. The Manth people wear color-coded clothes that show their relative standing.



We meet the Hath family, whose adherence to nonconformity marks them as pariahs in the city. Before the testing ritual of two-year-old Pinpin, her mother, Ira Hath, bewails her fate, refusing to correctly put on her clothes – behavior the novel seems to praise, despite the clear risk it poses to the family’s safety. Ira’s other children are ten-year-old fraternal twins Kestrel and Bowman, who are psychically linked to each other.

Fed up with life in the regulated society, Kestrel rebels, yelling about hating school and tests and eventually climbing the Wind Singer in protest. Her family is demoted as punishment, but as the government comes to arrest Kestrel, she escapes. During her escape, she accidentally runs into the city’s ruler, Emperor Creoth. He is thrilled at her rebellious nature, confessing that he isn’t really in charge of anything. Instead, he’s been set up as a puppet ruler under the High Examiner – who is none other than Morah, Amaranth’s ancient enemy, who has transformed the formerly happy society into this rigid caste structure.

Creoth asks Kestrel to venture to the Hall of Morah to retrieve the artifact that will once again activate the Wind Singer. Armed with Creoth’s map, Kestrel, her bother Bowman (Bo), and their friend Mumpo set out.



They escape Aramanth through the Underlake, which is inhabited by the mud people, a tribe of potato-eating primitives that to critics read as a poorly thought out “wise savage” stereotype. The three children help the mud people pick potatoes, and in return, the mud people show them the way out.

In the desert, Kestrel and her friends are captured by the Ombaraka people, a warrior people who live on a huge, desert-crossing battle tank and are in a state of permanent war with a neighboring tribe, the Omchaka. Although the Baraka first assume the children are spies, Kestrel, Bo, and Mumbo soon prove themselves by helping the Baraka defeat the Chaka via a traditional contest: a fight between robot champions from each side. In return, the Baraka teach the children how to braid hair.

From here, Kestrel and her friends get close to the fire-breathing mountain that marks Morah’s domain. At this point, the reader is told that Bo has “naturally” become the group’s leader – something readers find upsetting, since he has up to now been a secondary character, and since nothing has happened to make us question Kestrel’s leadership abilities. The novel seems to imply that it’s “natural” for Bo to lead because he is a boy.



As the trio is about to cross the bridge that leads to the Hall, they encounter the menacing “old children.” These are corrupted adults the size of small children who prey on real children by asking to stroke and pet them. Kestrel, Bo, and Mumpo kill dozens of the old children to defend themselves, without any psychological repercussions. Reviewers find all of this deeply troubling.

Finally, they find themselves face to face with Morah, who turns out to be a very old grandmother-monster who has thousands of eyes inside its eyes. They wait for Morah to fall asleep, and then steal the missing piece of the Wind Singer from her. Unfortunately, this wakes Morah’s army of Zars – an army of old children whom Morah has turned young again. They are unstoppable pursuers, beautiful and evil, who giggle and chant “Kill, kill, kill” as they chase Bo, Kestrel, and Mumpo across the sands.

The three make it back to Aramanth just in time to replace the artifact back into the Wind Singer before the Zars overrun the city. As the wind blows through the statue, it emits a powerful melody that instantly re-ages and then kills all of the Zars.



Future novels in the series document the enslavement and eventual freedom of the Manth people.