Weatherboy

Gr 2–5—This peculiar little tale, translated from the Dutch, tells the story of a little boy whose emotions control the weather around him. When he is happy, the sun shines; if he cries, it rains; his anger brings thunder and lightning; and a sneeze results in strong winds. As the child, called Weatherboy, grows older, the people around him—even his parents—continually ask him to change the weather to suit their needs, until he finally runs away—his unhappiness causing freezing snow and ice that will not disappear. He finds a small tree house and lives there alone, until the day he is joined by Skateboy, a child of the cold who loves nothing more than ice skating. The boys' friendship brings happiness, which causes sun and warmth, and Weatherboy's realization that this is what he likes best. Most of the illustrations have backgrounds in various shades of gray, some created with graphite pencil, some with watercolor. Touches of terra cotta—the bark of several gnarly, bare trees; a painted background—echo the child's stringy carrot top. Houses, clothing, trees, and footprints are drawn with pencil on lighter pages and in white against darker backgrounds. One spread shows a somewhat scary group of bizarre-looking townspeople with long, pointy noses and giant smirking large-toothed grins.