Windsongs: Poems about Weather

by Douglas Florian

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book 2024

Discover the fascinating world of weather through clever and entertaining poetry in this “delightfully sunny” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) picture book from celebrated poet Douglas Florian, creator of Dinothesaurus, Poetrees, and UnBEElievables.

Weather describes our atmosphere. Like whether it’s cloudy, or whether it’s clear. Whether it’s freezing, or frosty, or cool. Whether it’s snowing—today there’s no school!

Learn about all sorts of weather all over the world, from a regular rainy day to a hurricane, from fog to frost, from droughts to dewy mornings. With clever poems perfect for reading aloud and fact-filled backmatter, young readers can explore both everyday and once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomena.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Lesley Shuey]

I wasn’t sure where this book would take me but I must say I was happily surprised. Douglas Florian, the author does a beautiful job with his use of words to describe weather in its many forms. This objective can be rather difficult to get across to little ones especially through poetry, but I feel the author has addressed this task along with his simplistic imagery. This is surely to be a great resource in any teaching environment.
I am looking forward to highlighting this book at Bethany Beach Books where I work. The bookstore received the book as an ARC.

[Linda Manuel]

Great book to read by candlelight while recovering from hurricane Beryl.

[Joyce Uglow]

Learning about weather in science class? Want to inject rhymes and humor into your calendar/carpet time when talking about the upcoming weather? Look no further. Douglas Florian's poems in WINDSONGS: POEMS ABOUT WEATHER will make you smile all the while thinking about the various weather-related vocabulary. There are no sidebars for scientific definitions to interrupt the flow from poem to poem, but the back matter does a good job of helping kids to understand the terms. I appreciate the terms touched upon via poems in WINDSONGS: weather, atmosphere, sun, cloud, rain, hurricane, hail, wind, frost, lightning, thunder, snow, tornado, fog, flood, drought, weather instruments, meteorologist, dew, and climate change. The final poem in this collection deals with climate change with the very last line, "Our blue planet Earth is all that we've got." Lots of deep discussion can come from this collection. Florian's fun kid-like artwork was created with gouache paint, colored pencils, and rubber stamps on primed paper bags. This book can also be used for a poem-a-day and for students who are creating their own poetry to define vocabulary.

[Alexis]

I enjoyed reading this collection of poems that talked about weather! Each poem was creatively thought about (especially with how the words are oriented on the pages). I would love to use many of these poems in my classroom to introduce poetry and weather to my future students. The illustrations remind me of drawings I see as I'm in classrooms. I can see it really helping students visualize the weather conditions if they haven't experienced/seen it yet. This book also has a wonderful glossary at the back which I love.

[Elaine Fultz, kinda retired librarian]

Most poetry collections get reviewed as "uneven." Windsongs is not even that, it's just not very good. Florian's previous books are thematic, like this one, but include a variety of rhyming, concrete, and other forms of poetry. Here, most of the poems rhyme, some with awkwardly forced lines, and most are just the usual stacked lines. "Hurricane" is a shape poem, but even that one ends in an unnecessary rhyme: "...The danger is high!/Except for the calm within the storm's eye." Disappointing.

[Tiffany]

This book is a collection of poems about different kinds of weather. I could see parents or teachers playing a fun guessing game with kids when reading some of the poems. “Guess which weather I am describing..”
I also envision a collaboration of art and science where the students listen to the poem and then draw what they picture in their minds from the descriptive words. In addition to the poetry collection, you can find a glossary, further reading, and websites to explore!

[Easter]

Genre: Poetry
Grade Range: K-3rd

This book is really fun. It introduces words that aren't as common when talking about weather, like monsoon. I liked how some of the poems took shape into what it was talking about, like how the first poem transforms into a tornado. Overall this is a great book for the creative application of weather.

[Tina Hoggatt]

Delightfully illustrated by the author, a collection of poems about weather.

[Meghan Bohn]

I liked the poems and the art, but I’m wondering if the climate change poem and back matter is too advanced for the 4-8 years old age range suggested by the publisher.

[Terresa Wellborn]

Themes: weather, poetry
Ages: preK-3rd+ grade
Pub year: 2024

[Rachel]

Great range of playful poems, the folk art quality illustrations are unique.

[Angela De Groot]

Weather-related poetry: Thunder, lightning, frost, hail, and climate change.