Like a Windy Day: A Magical Picture Book about Wind, Weather, and Imagination for Children

by Frank Asch, Devin Asch (Illustrator)

The wind is powerful and stormy, mischievous and unpredictable. In this magical story, a young girl goes soaring, tumbling, and twirling on her own exciting windy-day adventure.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime, Fiction, Nature

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Frank Asch is an American children's writer, best known for his Moonbear picture books.

Asch published his first picture book, George's Store, in 1968. The following year he graduated from Cooper Union with a BFA. Since then he has taught at a public school in India, as well as at a Montessori school in the United States, conducted numerous creative workshops for children. He has written over 60 books, including Turtle Tale, Mooncake, I Can Blink and Happy Birthday Moon. In 1989 he wrote Here Comes the Cat! in collaboration with Vladimir Vagin. The book was awarded the Russian National Book Award and was considered the first Russian-American collaboration on a children's book.

Asch lived in Somerville, New Jersey where he and his wife home-schooled their son Devin.

He currently lives in Vermont with his wife, Jan.

Reviews

[Vicki]

This was such a good one for storytime! I used it with toddlers today, and before I began, I handed out our little chiffon scarf squares. We played with the scarves and waved them around while I played "The Minute Waltz" on the iPod ("make a big circle!" "throw your scarf in the air!" "make it go super slow, now super fast!"). Then I had the kids sit down and do the actions of the story with their scarves while I read the book. (I also kept a scarf in my left hand and did the action with them.)

It was a PINCH on the long side for toddlers. Next time, I might paper clip a few pages together, but the actual amount of text on the page worked great. A good story for fall or spring.

[Jennifer]

Super simple text and beautiful pictures tell the story of a little girl dreaming of being the wind and imagining all the wonderful things she would do if she could. "I want to play like a windy day. I want to zoom down hillsides and race through streets." etc. etc. Fun and playful and great for toddler story time, especially if you give them scarves first to act out all the "zooming" while you read. :)

[Fatima Seraj Alam]

My daughter was distracted by the wind shaped lady in the background to focus on the main girl and what was happening in the pictures. A simple one line per page book, this was a (might I say) breezy read? 🤣

[Emily]

Used this at my summer camp- delightful and simple read-aloud book. Lots of nice details in the illustrations to discuss. Led into great movement activity of acting out what you would do if you were the wind in various scenarios and a journaling/drawing activity depicting what you would do if you were the wind.

[Villa Park Public Library]

Invisible to the eye itself, wind moves the world around us… and so too, it gusts a fondness for it in our hearts. Wind rustles the autumn confetti of leaves and helps our kites take flight in cloudless summer skies. This picturesque story showcases the beauty of growing up and into something bigger, wherever the wind may take us.

Check this book out at the Villa Park Public Library!

[Savannah Webster]

I loved the whimsical metaphors in the book. The playful illustrations of the wind character helped open up discussion with my littles of what the force can move or lift. The colors are bold with crisp clean lines making it a very appealing read. I felt like it would be a great book to relate to strong emotions as well and finding peace. Beautiful book ❤

[Miss Sarah]

A young girl goes through her day saying all the things the wind does that she would like to do. Toddler and up.

[Kathleen]

I see a cross-curricular writing activity with this book!

[Michael]

Nice artwork.

[Emily]

Describes the ways wind (and a child) can play, with a translucent being symbolizing the wind in illustration.

[Lynn Davidson]

A little girl is outside on a very windy day and imagines what it would be like to be the wind. She imagines doing things the wind does, such as make kites fly, scatter seeds, blow boats along, crash waves onto the shore. Lovely illustrations.

[Cheryl Rainfield]

I love books that encourage creative thinking and dreaming, books that bring good feeling and feel inspiring. Like a Windy Day is just that kind of book.


My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

"I want to play like a windy day.
I want to zoom down hillsides
and race through streets.
I want to scatter seeds
turn windmills,
fly kites"

–Like a Windy Day, by Frank Asch, illustrated by Devin Asrch, p. 1-8.

Have you ever felt excited when the wind blows strongly, and wanted to join in? The girl in Like a Windy Day wants to play the way the wind does, and she imagines many ways to do this. This is a book that will delight any reader who enjoys fantasy or flights of the imagination. Like a Windy Day is a sweet, fun book that will spark creative thinking and play.

Frank Asch (Happy Birthday, Moon,Mooncake, Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice) and Devin Asch’s (Mr. Maxwell’s Mouse, Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice) text is playful and fanciful, encouraging the reader to imagine how they could play like the wind. I love this idea. The text reads like a poem, with the initial idea “I want to play like a windy day” repeated several times throughout the book, and each page or spread containing one idea of how you might do this–scatter seeds, snap wet sheets. The repetition of the phrase both encourages readers to come to expect the line, and to imagine what might come next.

read my entire review here.

[Vivian]

Father and son team Frank and Devin Asch put together this imaginative romp with the wind. The two to five year old children attending library story time were captivated by the book.

Visit the author's website here: http://www.frankasch.com/home.html

See what Goodreads member Vicki R. did with this story:
"This was such a good one for storytime! I used it with toddlers today, and before I began, I handed out our little chiffon scarf squares. We played with the scarves and waved them around while I played "The Minute Waltz" on the iPod ("make a big circle!" "throw your scarf in the air!" "make it go super slow, now super fast!"). Then I had the kids sit down and do the actions of the story with their scarves while I read the book. (I also kept a scarf in my left hand and did the action with them."

I LOVE all these ideas!!!!

[Kia M.]

Like a Windy day has very nice illustrations throughout the entire book. This book would also go great with a mini science lesson focusing on wind. You could show your class all of the things that happen because of wind. For example, the turning of windmills, waving of flags, and the flying of kites.

[Katherine Fountain]

Like a Windy Day is a fun story talking about the importance of wind and how it plays a role in our daily lives. The main character sets out to see all of the responsibilities that the wind has like turning wind mills, waves, wind chimes etc. and even moves along with the wind herself. This would be a great lesson to introduce wind and weather.

[Tracey M. Cox]

What can the wind do? In "Like A Windy Day" a child discovers the different stages of wind and how it can play.

"Like A Windy Day" will introduce children to the effects the wind has on people and the earth.

Devin Asch's illustrations will have you twirling and swirl your turn the page for new discoveries.

"Like A Windy Day" is written by Frank Asch.

[Miss Niki]

This book was selected for the "W" phoneme.

Position of word:
Initial - 27 times; Additional practice can be found at the end of the book that includes 9 more opportunities to hear "w" at the beginnings of words.

[Sarah]

A girl wants to play like the wind and do all the things that the wind can do: shake dew from a spider's web, steal hats, and lift birds and butterflies in the sky." Beautiful graphic illustrations sweep across double-page spreads and capture the mood.

[Cws]

JEAR2-Asc

[Heather]

A beautiful childrens' book about a girl's adventure with the wind and the affect it has on everything around it. I loved the colors, the text and the poetic nature of the book.

[Elaine]

Loved the personification of the wind in this story. Also, the illustrations are captivating. This would be a great book for story time.

[Sarah]

Such a sweet book! Perfect for our kite themed storytime today. Loved the illustrations.

[Cortney Kittridge]

Could be good for teaching poetry. Not super engaging for children during a read aloud though.

[J9]

Great book for beginner readers and reading about a child wanting to be like the wind, flying around and making mischief. Not as much educational as enjoyable with beautiful illustrations.

[Heather]

This book was okay. The illustrations were good enough, but the story dragged for us.

[Molly]

Not my favorite for some reason, but I like the idea of thinking about what it would be like to be the wind.

[Erin]

I want to play like a windy day is said over and over showing different ways a windy day plays.

Great for preschool or toddler storytimes.

[Goshen PL Childrens]

Read for Storytime Express April 20 & 21 2016.
Theme: Spring Weather

[Miss Becky]

Imagine you are the wind. You would twirl and tumble. You would be powerful, stormy, and playful.

[Sarah Kramer]

This book is better if you shorten it so the toddlers don't get restless.