I Am Wind
An Autobiography
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
In this award-winning mock-autobiography for middle-grade readers, Wind tells fascinating stories that describe their cultural, historical and technical importance to humans.
Make no mistake: Wind is not shy or humble. Wind is violent, impulsive, arrogant and unpredictable — now playing with a kite, then tearing down a forest.
With the help of diagrams and fact-filled sidebars, Wind explains what causes the air to move, describes their favorite forms (katabatics, hurricanes, tornadoes) and shows how they influence the landscape (sand dunes, wind power). Readers will come to know the full breadth of Wind's physical, historical and psychological presence. Moving seamlessly between science, history and myth, this book is an engrossing and unique look at an elemental force.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Narrating partly in the first person and partly in documentary prose, Poliquin (the Superpower Field Guide series) explores the power of wind and the effects it has on human lives. Alternating with "Wind Chronicles" that cover Ma¯ori winds, Odysseus's bag of winds, and more, encyclopedic sections detail how the wind works ("As air warms, it becomes lighter and rises upward"), and poetic odes reveal the subject's force and power ("Tall mountains and tight valleys... bottle me like a tiger in a jar until I explode in fury"). While gusty storms can be devastating (the Great Storm of 1703 "flattened forests of ancient oaks like wheat in the field" across the south of England), the lengthy work underscores how humans have used the wind's movements to explore and sail, to harness power via windmills, and, more recently, to generate electricity. Wada (Always Beginning) uses rhythmically stroked, digitally finished visuals to convey the subject's movement, ranging from scenes in which a child's hair ribbon is tossed by the breeze to those of destruction wrought by tornadoes and hurricanes. Human figures are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 8–12.
