Like A Windy Day

Like a Windy Day

From School Library JournalPreSchool-Grade 1-In a poetic text, a girl imagines herself doing all of the things that the wind can do. The brief story is filled with action verbs as the child follows the personified wind through the countryside, into town, and along the beach and riverside. The exciting pen-and-ink illustrations were colorized in Adobe Photoshop. Broad and sweeping spreads are filled with movement as the child tumbles, races, and flies until she settles at the end "like a gentle breeze." While the pictures are large enough for group sharing, there are many clever and amusing details to be found on closer inspection. Youngsters will find socks and neckties flying through the air, a magician's hat complete with rabbit blowing away, and a TV inside an apartment turned on to a weather report. This book will be useful for units on the weather, or simply for reading together.Marlene Gawron, Orange County Library, Orlando, FLCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.The wind is powerful and stormy, mischievous and unpredictable. It can lift birds into the air and drive the clouds and rain. It can spin windmills, steal hats, and sail boats across the seas.In this magical story, Frank and Devin Asch bring the wind to life and send a young girl soaring, tumbling, and twirling on her own exciting windy-day adventure. This is the fourth in a group of picture books that explore nature.From Publishers WeeklyFollowing their Baby Duck's New Friend, the father-and-son team offers a rollicking testament to the excitement whipped up by the wind. A girl watching a golden leaf swept away on the breeze exclaims, "I want to play like a windy day." The girl, the leaf and the wind (depicted as a cavorting, childlike apparition shown in profile, its facial contours matching the girl's) frolic across the pages. The girl's rhyming speech pays homage to their antics ("I want to zoom down hillsides/ and race through streets./ I want to scatter seeds,/ turn windmills,/ fly kites,/ wave flags,/ and snap wet sheets"). Here, the wind stretches out its hand to turn a windmill while the girl does a cartwheel and clasps a dandelion whose seeds billow in the gust. Brisk, digitally colorized pen-and-ink drawings include sundry background details (e.g., an upended trash can, laundry billowing on the line between two buildings, etc.). Curves, swirls and swaths of layered color give a fluid feel to the artwork. A fun fall read. Ages 3-7.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistK-Gr. 2. This isn't as text intensive as Robert McClosky's classic Time of Wonder (1957), but Asch has clearly taken some inspiration from that book. His subtle exploration of the properties of wind works equally well as story or science. A little girl wants to "play like a windy day." She mentions all the things the wind can do and imagines herself doing them. A ghostly image of the girl appears in the wind, personifying it and making clear how the wind behaves. Aside from a few blowing hats and some driving rain, only the benevolent aspects of wind are shown: the wind rustles the grass, flies kites, and helps spider babies soar. The day ends with the wind as a gentle breeze. The illustrations, in simple shapes, have been nicely colorized by computer to show subtle shadings and overlays as well as flat, bright planes of color. A good choice for classrooms and public libraries, as well for reading at home. Marta SegalCopyright