Wind Watchers

January 1, 2025

PreS-Gr 3-A book that lyrically covers the experience of wind. "How will you blow today?" Archer asks of the wind. Season by season, she takes readers on a journey through encounters with the wind: flying a kite, watching ripples in a pond, chasing dandelion seeds, and jumping in fallen leaves. It's a book that covers how wind is invisible, but its force blows spring petals to the ground. It makes, at times, no sound, but it wrestles with wind chimes in the evening. Archer stays true to her style, shaping a journey through steadfast inquiry and vibrant illustrations, bringing the sensory experience to life. VERDICT A fresh and poetic offering for wind and weather-themed story times. Recommended for all picture book collections.-Jennifer Noonan

Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 15, 2024
Follow a trio of children through the seasons as they ask the Wind, "How will you blow today?" In spring, the brown-skinned youngsters' dark hair dances animatedly in the breeze as "Wind answers with a puff of the petals, making them flutter and fall." The lightly personified Wind is playful, even mercurial. In summer, it might respond favorably to their pleas for "one big whoooshhh" to lift their kite. Other times, Wind--who likes "to be WILD!"--might cause a tumultuous storm. The narration is conversational, even breezy at times. Short, frequent pops of alliteration and compelling turns of phrase feel wonderfully lyrical, such as a young skater thanking the wintry Wind "for the extra-looooong glide." Brilliant acrylic ink and intricate collage illustrations are as exuberant as the Wind. The pages are briskly busy, from an autumnal spread showing seed pods soaring as a child watches in awe to a serene, almost quiltlike image of youngsters lying languidly near a pond on a hot summer's day, begging Wind for a cool gust. The full-bleed spreads are dynamic, featuring gloriously luminous, deeply saturated colors and breathtaking changes of perspective, such as wide eyes peeking out a window onto blurred streaks of "swirling snow." Upon reaching the satisfying last page, in which the Wind says, "Sometimes my work takes my breath away!'" readers will agree: "It takes away ours, too." Joyful and poetic, a tale that will delight all year long.(Picture book. 4-8)

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December 9, 2024
In lilting words and elegant collage spreads by Caldecott Honoree Archer, three children are shown encountering the varied powers of wind across the seasons. The three light-brown-skinned kids are first seen standing on top of a rise, faces turned up, dark hair blowing sideways. “Sometimes we call out to Wind, ‘How will you blow today?’ ” A page turn shows them perched in a pink-blossomed tree: “In Spring, Wind answers with a puff at the petals.” And as the kids walk through a pine forest in the rain, three umbrellas glow with color from patterned papers in red, yellow, orange, and blue. In warmer weather on a sandy beach, the children holler, “Can you help us fly our kite?” Fall and winter bring new wonders, including released milkweed down and icy breezes. Fully developed right to the edges, tapestry-like spreads consistently offer new things to find—the interesting shadows of beach umbrellas, a distant house with its windows alight—in this captivating year-long study of an elusive, invisible force. Ages 3–7.

March 1, 2025
Three children experience the invisible power of the wind over the course of a year. The children -- eyes upward, dark hair flowing against an expansive blue sky -- begin with a direct question to Wind itself: "How will you blow today?" Each subsequent full-bleed, double-page spread provides an answer. In the spring, text nestles in the negative space between a tree's pink-flowered branches as Wind provides a light "puff at the petals." In summer, the children lounge on a dock under a willow tree, waiting for Wind to bring the relief of a breeze on a sweltering day. Later, Wind stirs up storms. "Sometimes I like to be WILD!" it says, chasing the children indoors. The lyrical, poetic language is easy to read aloud, and thoughtful positioning of text on the page creates a sense of cohesion with each image. Archer's masterful use of acrylic ink and paper art showcases a variety of techniques, compositions, and perspectives. From the glittering depth of collaged streaming rain to the textured, sleepy haze of a darkened bedroom, each page-turn inspires the same wonder Archer depicts in the faces of her three awestruck subjects. Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)