When the Wind Blows

Sweeney makes her children’s book debut with a clipped, poetic ode to the blustery days of spring, tracing a boy’s active day with his grandmother as they fly (and lose) a kite, visit a windswept seashore, and romp around a playground before dashing home ahead of a storm. Working in a palette of bright pink, green, blue, and gold, Christy creates mixed-media scenes that manage the neat trick of evoking a cozy small-town atmosphere while giving a tangible sense of the wind’s fearsome power as “Windows whistle./ Vanes spin./ Candles flicker./ We grin.” Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Carrie Hannigan, Hannigan Salky Getzler. Illustrator’s agent: Justin Rucker, Shannon Associates. (Feb.)