Something About the Sky

In 1956, after a young viewer requested to see “something about the sky,” the makers of an educational TV program asked marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson (1907–1964) to write a segment on the subject. The resulting script, abridged into this closely observed work about “the atmospheric ocean... a place of movement and turbulence,” begins with a description of “the ocean of air” above, then moves to cloud types and the role clouds play in distributing water over the earth. Accompanying thoughtful prose that’s both lyrical and reportorial (“Without clouds, all water would remain forever in the sea”), art from McClure (What Will These Hands Make?) combines her signature cut-paper art style with washi paper and sumi ink to express the subject’s sense of movement in dynamic images of cyan blue, inky black, and stormy gray. As one page discusses how Earth’s atmosphere is shot through with the same kinds of onrushing currents that dominate the world’s oceans, an accompanying illustration marks the rhythm of the sky’s waves with swathes of deep blue that fade to white as crisp seabirds soar above. Images inspired, per a creator’s note, by the ever-changing forms of cloud and sky engage with the text’s precision while adding warmth and vividness via scenes of people experiencing the world’s wonders. It’s a fitting jumping-off place from which to contemplate “the writing of the wind on the sky”—and continue noticing the natural world. Characters’ skin tones reflect the hue of the page. Ages 5–8. (Mar.)