The Gale
by Mo Yan; illus. by Zhu Chengliang; adapted by Xiaoxiao Guan; trans. from Chinese by Ying-Hwa Hu
Primary, Intermediate    Simon    40 pp.
8/24    9781665930628    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781665930635    $10.99

In this moving, bittersweet picture-book debut by a Nobel Prize–winning Chinese author, a child learns an important lesson about resilience in the face of sudden changes. At seven, the protagonist is old enough to accompany Yeye (grandfather) into the fields near their rural home in China to help cut tall grass for animal feed. What starts out for the child as a carefree day playing outdoors takes a turn by late afternoon when dark clouds and a wind storm roll through. The Chinese folk art–inspired pictures are wonderfully evocative, transporting readers to the countryside as scenes shift from misty morning to bright summer afternoon, then panic-filled stormy climax and ambiguous ending. The images and matter-of-fact text weave a tight tale about how one moment can upend everything, which is foreshadowed early on when Yeye sings some old “strange — happy, yet sad” songs the child doesn’t understand. This semiautobiographical ode to intergenerational family love becomes even more poignant in the appended selection from the original short story, in which Mo writes lovingly about his own grandfather’s life as a farmer and the sad circumstances of his death. MICHELLE LEE

From the September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

I Am Wind
by Rachel Poliquin; illus. by Rachel Wada
Intermediate    Tundra    80 pp.
11/24    9780735272187    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780735272194    $11.99

This innovative collection of musings on wind mixes poetic expression, cultural myths, and scientific facts to describe and explain wind phenomena. Major topics include the ways winds are formed in dynamic environments such as mountains, coasts, and deserts; human interactions with wind, from experiencing a breeze to harnessing wind power; global wind patterns; and the power of cyclones, tornadoes, and erosive processes. The wind itself emotes throughout the book, using expressive language to describe, for example, the aftermath of the hot winds (called Loo) of the Himalayas: “And I think to myself, if I had not burnt the land, you would not be so happy to see the flowers and birds return.” Sections labeled “Wind Chronicles” are interspersed with the main text and relate folkloric origin stories and historical accounts of major wind events. Wada’s mixed-media illustrations echo the emotions in the text, swirling color and linear elements to depict the flow of wind and the movement of objects in its wake. Back matter includes an index of key terms and suggestions for further reading. DANIELLE J. FORD

From the January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Whirligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson’s Imagination
by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by Edwin Fotheringham
Primary    Calkins/Astra    32 pp.
11/24    9781662680410    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781662680427    $11.99

“On a North Carolina farm, massive towers with moving parts spin and sound in the breeze. Did space aliens create these contraptions?” At the opening of this picture-book biography, a tangle of colors and shapes and a burst of visual onomatopoeia (“WHIRR, CREEEAK. Plink, plink”) introduce readers to the plucky machinist and inventor Vollis Simpson (1919–2013) and his “whirligigs.” The narrative shows how his childhood interest in the mechanics of objects established his career path: “Vollis aimed to make machines work better.” Illustrations add to the down-home feel of the story while helping readers visualize some of Simpson’s more original improvements, such as a wind-powered washing machine invented during WWII using parts from a downed B-29 bomber. An injury in his sixties forces Simpson to close his machine-repair shop and ultimately propels him, “bored as a two by four,” to begin making the colorful whirligig windmills that will become his legacy. Color and sound (“Whistle, Whir, BOING, BOING”) keep the story energetic and busy to match the spirit of its subject, and the illustrations become ever more fanciful as Simpson’s windmill farm grows. Back matter includes an author’s note, a bibliography, and the lyrics to “Vollis Simpson’s Windmill Farm” (to the tune of “Old MacDonald”). JULIE ROACH

From the January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.