Wild is the Wind

By Author / Illustrator

Grahame Baker-Smith, Grahame Baker-Smith

Genre

Non Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Templar Publishing

ISBN

9781787417854

Format

Hardback

Published

05-11-2020

Synopsis

Floating across the sky in her hot air balloon, Cassi watches a little swift dive and swoop through the still air. In the rising sun the world seems to be holding its breath. Then a small breeze stirs the leaves in the trees, and as the wind grows bolder, a whiff of danger sends small creatures running for cover. Across the ocean, the wind awakes with a fury, whipping the waves, cresting each one with wild, white horses. And further on, around the still eye of a hurricane, clouds are carved into a great spiral, howling with stormy power . . . And throughout, the wind in all its guises is witnessed by Cassi's little swift as it embarks on its mammoth migratory journey, finally coming to nest on the other side of the world. A spectacular new non-fiction picture book from the creator of The Rhythm of the Rain.

Reviews

An interesting story which follows the journey of a group of swifts, following the summer around the world.

The story begins with a little girl called Cassi who helps an injured swift return to its flock. As she flies up in her hot air balloon with the recovered bird, the swifts start their long journey across the world. The story follows the swifts through miles and miles of their journey, showing the incredible landscapes that they pass.

There are beautiful pictures and the text provides snippets of information about many environments across the world including the wind turbines and great ships in the ocean, a cyclone with its howling stormy power, and the wind sculpting huge sand dunes in the dessert.

After three months of flight and covering 8000 miles, the swifts end up with a little boy called Kun who is delighted to see that summer has arrived. The story ends by showing the swifts hatching their chicks before embarking on the long journey, all the way back to Cassi.

It's a nice story with colourful pictures which gives children factual information about swifts and the amazing journey they take each year.

Picture book / Ages 7+ / Reviewed by Lucy Newton, teacher