I Am Wind (I Am Nature)

Narrating partly in the first person and partly in documentary prose, Poliquin (the Superpower Field Guide series) explores the power of wind and the effects it has on human lives. Alternating with “Wind Chronicles” that cover Ma¯ori winds, Odysseus’s bag of winds, and more, encyclopedic sections detail how the wind works (“As air warms, it becomes lighter and rises upward”), and poetic odes reveal the subject’s force and power (“Tall mountains and tight valleys... bottle me like a tiger in a jar until I explode in fury”). While gusty storms can be devastating (the Great Storm of 1703 “flattened forests of ancient oaks like wheat in the field” across the south of England), the lengthy work underscores how humans have used the wind’s movements to explore and sail, to harness power via windmills, and, more recently, to generate electricity. Wada (Always Beginning) uses rhythmically stroked, digitally finished visuals to convey the subject’s movement, ranging from scenes in which a child’s hair ribbon is tossed by the breeze to those of destruction wrought by tornadoes and hurricanes. Human figures are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 8–12. (Nov.)