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July 15, 2016
One gusty fall morning, a surprise blows through an open window into the bedroom of two sleeping children, both with dark hair and light-brown skin. It's a pinwheel! "Look," says the smaller child, grasping the toy, and thus begins a windswept adventure. The child floats out the window with a jubilant expression that makes it clear that this is not a scary occurrence but a delightful one. Floating along, topsy-turvy on the turbulent air current, the child encounters several farm animals also caught up in the squall. The simple sentence structure--"I see a..."--repeats for four spreads naming several common animals, which also seem surprised but not frightened to have temporarily lost their contact with the ground. This predicament resolves when they are depicted returning to their barn as the child narrates, "They go home." On the next spread, the child too returns home from this unexpected excursion. The whimsical digital illustrations are full of movement. Cepeda uses plenty of white space and creative perspectives to express the fantastic squall that keeps the child soaring above roofs and treetops. The sparse text (just 27 one-syllable words), repetition, and expressive illustration make this an appropriate choice for children beginning to read independently. An accessible and imaginative title for emergent readers just learning to decode and understand the written word. (Early reader. 3-7)

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September 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 3-A fantasy about a little boy and a windy night. The tale opens with two brothers in bed. A mysterious pinwheel blows into the younger brother's hand. Soon, he is flying over the treetops, encountering a hen, a sheep, a pig, and a cow along the way. They all arrive back at their respective homes, and the little boy hands the pinwheel to his big brother. The narrative has made a full circle, and now it's readers' turns to predict what will happen next. Part of a beginning reader series, the title is predicated on ease of reading for beginners, and it meets that standard. Cepeda relies on only 12 different words, all decodable and repeated at least once, and his use of typical farm animals allows for activation of prior knowledge in most young readers. The vibrant, sketchy illustrations make the wind feel almost palpable, and add to the fun. There's not much story here, but for children just starting out, there is enough for them to feel like empowered readers. VERDICT A great choice for larger collections.-Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter School, Providence

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