Like a Windy Day

Starred review from October 14, 2002
Following their Baby Duck's New Friend,
the father-and-son team offers a rollicking testament to the excitement whipped up by the wind. A girl watching a golden leaf swept away on the breeze exclaims, "I want to play like a windy day." The girl, the leaf and the wind (depicted as a cavorting, childlike apparition shown in profile, its facial contours matching the girl's) frolic across the pages. The girl's rhyming speech pays homage to their antics ("I want to zoom down hillsides/ and race through streets./ I want to scatter seeds,/ turn windmills,/ fly kites,/ wave flags,/ and snap wet sheets"). Here, the wind stretches out its hand to turn a windmill while the girl does a cartwheel and clasps a dandelion whose seeds billow in the gust. Brisk, digitally colorized pen-and-ink drawings include sundry background details (e.g., an upended trash can, laundry billowing on the line between two buildings, etc.). Curves, swirls and swaths of layered color give a fluid feel to the artwork. A fun fall read. Ages 3-7.