Hear the Wind Blow

PreS-Gr 2–This poetic depiction of wind from gentle breeze to hurricane force winds periodically falters. The story describes the wind in a series of poetic stanzas which range in length and sometimes lack scansion or flow. The extensive back matter includes the entire Beaufort Wind Chart and claims that each stanza represents one of the 13 categories on the scale. The art depicts two families, one presented as tan, with black hair, and one presented as white, as they encounter the wind at different stages leading up to a hurricane, and culminating with a post-storm community clean-up effort. The full-bleed illustrations are lovely, with flowing movement and a color palette that ranges from pinks and purples for sunrise, to a sunny blue-sky day, to the dark of a hurricane. The people and houses have a slightly blocky, digital feel, but the movement represented in the nature scenes and the gentle colors work together to create an appealing whole. The text bogs down on a couple of pages with multiple stanzas; nevertheless, the lush illustrations and nature theme are likely to appeal to many.