Windsongs

March 15, 2024
In 20 expertly crafted poems, Florian illuminates the origins, types, and effects of weather. Beginning with scene-setters about weather and our atmosphere and ending with a sober look at climate change, the veteran poet-illustrator riffs, often gleefully, on elements from rain and hail to frost and drought. He frequently uses personification, alliteration, and repetition, encapsulating solid information in economical rhymes and deft wordplay. "Cloud" narrates its own delight in "wrecking" the reader's fun: "I rain cascades / on your parades. /...To nip your nap / I thunderclap." Maintaining that "fog is just / a cloud that's lost," Florian describes how "it drifted down, / close to the ground, / then napped beside a hill. / And gave the day / ten shades of gray, / each un-fog-gettable." Poems often take concrete forms, spiraling in "Hurricane" and assuming the shape of a funnel for "Tornado." The text appears on pages of saturated color, opposite playful illustrations executed in gouache, colored pencil, and rubber stamps on primed paper bags. Humans vary in skin tone and cavort (and contort) in service of Florian's visual jokes. For "Hurricane," an umbrella-wielding person's yellow slicker spirals round and round, echoing that poem's shape. A "never ever wrong" meteorologist stands before a weather map, staring in shock at the barrage of hailstones despoiling a sunny forecast. In an image accompanying the last poem, three people--wearing caps that warn against damaging greenhouse pollutants--hold up our sea-blue planet. Appealing information in a delightfully sunny package. (glossary, weather websites, selected sources and further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2024

PreS-Gr 1-This nonfiction picture book blends the beauty of weather with the elegance of poetry through its unique and memorable style. Each spread features a different element of weather, including types of storms, instruments used to measure weather, and more. The verses all vary in style, incorporating some rhymes and visual stylings to connect the words with their topics of focus. Many poem selections resemble a weather type, such as a spiral for a hurricane and lightning emerging from a cloud. These artistic choices serve the dual purpose of introducing children to the varied ways in which poetry can be created, as well as providing readers with a memorable way of recognizing weather features. Facing each poem is an accompanying illustration that embraces childlike art, using visible pencil lines, asymmetrical imagery, and muted hues. Together, the text and pictures make the concept of weather accessible to a very young audience, especially when used to teach about weather for the first time. A glossary provides more detailed information about each featured weather type, enhancing the learning that can happen thanks to this book. VERDICT A unique and accessible title that helps young children connect to weather in a foundational and introductory manner.-Mary Lanni

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2024
Grades K-3 Being, as usual, both clever and informative, Florian sprinkles this quick summer shower of verses on weather-related topics with playfully delivered truisms ("Lightning is frightening!") and facts, adding more expansive comments in a prose glossary at the end. "Weather describes our atmosphere. / Like whether it's cloudy, / or whether it's clear," he begins, then goes on in short, sometimes shaped poems laced with wordplay to celebrate atmospheric phenomena, from clouds and fog to hail and hurricanes: "It's reigning rain! A hurricane!" On painted paper bags he depicts children in raincoats, a muscular sun, storms and snowflakes, a distinctly windswept dog, meteorologists posing with the tools of their trade, and, opposite a last cautionary stanza on climate change ("Mars is too cold, and Venus too hot. / Our blue planet Earth is all that we've got"), a trio of young eco-activists working together to hold up a globe. A brisk, breezy sampler; the forecast calls for repeat readings.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2024
Kids are often hyper-aware of such natural phenomena as thunder, lightning, and snow, so a collection of twenty engaging, informative poems about weather is likely to be a hit. Here topics include the familiar (e.g., sun, hurricanes, hail, and wind) as well as less commonly featured subjects, including atmosphere, weather instruments, and the work of a meteorologist. Using a variety of poetic forms, Florian (Zoobilations!, rev. 3/22, and many others) provides nuggets of facts embedded in playful rhymes, often with surprise endings or a humorous slant. The poems are notable for their strong rhythms, pleasing repetition, and clever wordplay. From "Fog," for example: "It drifted down, / close to the ground, / then napped beside a hill. / And gave the day / ten shades of gray, / each un-fog-ettable." Rendered in "gouache paint, colored pencils, and rubber stamps on primed paper bags," every fanciful full-bleed illustration is paired with a poem on the facing page, giving each double-page spread an open and inviting feel. A helpful glossary provides more information about the topics, and a list of weather websites for kids and suggested further reading complete the excellent back matter. Sylvia Vardell

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
Kids are often hyper-aware of such natural phenomena as thunder, lightning, and snow, so a collection of twenty engaging, informative poems about weather is likely to be a hit. Here topics include the familiar (e.g., sun, hurricanes, hail, and wind) as well as less commonly featured subjects, including atmosphere, weather instruments, and the work of a meteorologist. Using a variety of poetic forms, Florian (Zoobilations!, rev. 3/22, and many others) provides nuggets of facts embedded in playful rhymes, often with surprise endings or a humorous slant. The poems are notable for their strong rhythms, pleasing repetition, and clever wordplay. From "Fog," for example: "It drifted down, / close to the ground, / then napped beside a hill. / And gave the day / ten shades of gray, / each un-fog-ettable." Rendered in "gouache paint, colored pencils, and rubber stamps on primed paper bags," every fanciful full-bleed illustration is paired with a poem on the facing page, giving each double-page spread an open and inviting feel. A helpful glossary provides more information about the topics, and a list of weather websites for kids and suggested further reading complete the excellent back matter.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)