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”).

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