cover image The Very Windy Day

The Very Windy Day

Elizabeth MacDonald. Tambourine Books, $15 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-688-11044-4

The title tells all: it is gusty in Summerville, and Summers's cartoonlike characters are drawn in erratic lines, shaken by the strong winds. Baby Emma loses her blanket, Mrs. Green's hat is snatched away and a kitten is blown out of its box. In this bouncy comedy of errors the breezy chain reaction of objects lost and found is difficult to follow, and readers may well become confused. The illustrations are suitably comical, but ultimately few will care about such issues as where Mr. Black's newspaper came from and what is currently covering up Baby Emma. At the close a few loose ends are tied up, but the story never really hangs together. Ages 5-up. (Mar.)