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Wind Watchers

Author Micha Archer
Audiobook Download
Audio | Listening Library
On sale Mar 04, 2025 | 10 Minutes | 9798217017676
Preschool - 2
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Caldecott Honor winner Micha Archer’s spectacular collages showcase the wind’s ever-changing, blustery nature throughout the seasons.

Seasons come and go, and the wind wafts its way through them all. This delights a family of children, and when they ask the wind, “How will you blow today?” they get a kick out of not knowing what answer they’ll get. Will the wind send gentle breezes that tickle and delight, cooling them off on hot days? Or strong gusts that knock their hats off and send them running inside on stormy days? One thing is for certain to our wind watchers—the wind is an always-changing wonder and constantly takes their breath away!

Caldecott Honor winner Micha Archer’s stunning illustrations are sure to engage readers as they bring to vivid life the excitement of our windy weather.
© John Rae
Micha Archer (MichaArcher.com) wrote and illustrated the Caldecott Honor Book Wonder Walkers, as well as the Ezra Jack Keats Award winner Daniel Finds a Poem and its companions, What’s New, Daniel? and Daniel’s Good Day, and has also illustrated several other picture books, including Girl Running (by Annette Bay Pimentel). Micha works in inks and collage on paper she creates with homemade stamps and layered tissue paper. She comes from a long line of artists and teachers and taught for many years in a kindergarten. She lives in western Massachusetts in the house she and her husband built, surrounded by gardens and forests to roam in. View titles by Micha Archer
* “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.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

About

Caldecott Honor winner Micha Archer’s spectacular collages showcase the wind’s ever-changing, blustery nature throughout the seasons.

Seasons come and go, and the wind wafts its way through them all. This delights a family of children, and when they ask the wind, “How will you blow today?” they get a kick out of not knowing what answer they’ll get. Will the wind send gentle breezes that tickle and delight, cooling them off on hot days? Or strong gusts that knock their hats off and send them running inside on stormy days? One thing is for certain to our wind watchers—the wind is an always-changing wonder and constantly takes their breath away!

Caldecott Honor winner Micha Archer’s stunning illustrations are sure to engage readers as they bring to vivid life the excitement of our windy weather.

Author

© John Rae
Micha Archer (MichaArcher.com) wrote and illustrated the Caldecott Honor Book Wonder Walkers, as well as the Ezra Jack Keats Award winner Daniel Finds a Poem and its companions, What’s New, Daniel? and Daniel’s Good Day, and has also illustrated several other picture books, including Girl Running (by Annette Bay Pimentel). Micha works in inks and collage on paper she creates with homemade stamps and layered tissue paper. She comes from a long line of artists and teachers and taught for many years in a kindergarten. She lives in western Massachusetts in the house she and her husband built, surrounded by gardens and forests to roam in. View titles by Micha Archer

Praise

* “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.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

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