The Wind & the Clover

Weber (On the Day the Horse Got Out) offers fairy tale prose and marvelously rich, folk-style gouache and pencil spreads that imagine the lives of ground-dwelling bees. In this world, seen up close, clover blossoms wave like hands, green plants jostle for sunlight, and grains of pollen soar like tiny, brightly colored balloons. The ground bees—who have friendly, antic expressions and bright red noses—dream and play, and then, “one morning, /one bee,/ this bee// dreamt of someplace different.” The insect rides a north-blowing breeze to a pale field under the aurora borealis, where a snow goose stares with a baleful eye and lichens cover low rocks. Subsequent pages offer refrains for the cardinal directions as the bees go where the wind takes them, each encountering a magnificent topography rich with flora and fauna. And when one bee is left alone, she beholds in the local clover an assemblage of creatures and blooms just as rich. Weber’s creation testifies to the glory and profusion of the natural world, and to the importance of appreciating one’s surroundings. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. Agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (June)