When the Wind Blows

When the Wind Blows
by Stacy Clark; illus. by Brad Sneed
32 pages; ages 4-8
Holiday House, 2015

theme: nature, nonfiction, engineering

When the wind blows
   Porch doors sway
      Dune grass bends
         Sea waves spray

This is a wonderful book about harnessing the wind's energy - how it is transformed from a force of nature that spins turbines into electricity that powers our cities.

What I like about this book: The lyrical language. This is a nonfiction book, filled with wind turbine innards and magnetic forces and electrons. It is also written is lovely poetic language. I also love the way each page begins with "When the wind blows..." I also like the structure: we start at the beach, head offshore to wind turbines, then back onshore with electricity, and finally end up right back where we started: at the beach.

Beyond the Book: 
Make a Pinwheel. All you need is a square piece of paper, a pair of scissors, a thin dowel and a long pin (like a hat pin) or a long push-pin. Check out the directions here.

What's in the Wind? Maybe there are dandelion seeds or tiny moths... here's directions on how to find out.

Make a Wind Painting. Splot some tempera paint onto a paper plate. Then take it outside and let the wind blow the paint around.

Go on a Windy Walk. Grab your journal and head outside on a windy day. Jot down all the things that you see blowing in the wind: flags, leaves, branches swaying.

Make some Wind chimes out of recycled soup and tuna cans. Kid-friendly directions here.

Today is STEM Friday - head over to the STEM Friday blog to see what other bloggers are reviewing. It's also PPBF (perfect picture book Friday) over at  Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.  Review copy provided by publisher.