Wind is a Dance

Like poetry in motion, Wind is a Dance by Debra Kempf Shumaker and Josée Bisaillon combines poetry and non fiction in a beautiful text about wind.

Through the story readers learn about different kinds of winds. From a soft breeze to a tornado, readers learn about the wind through factual descriptions as well as poetic ones.

Debra Kempf Shumaker takes an element of the every day, wind, and uses it as a jumping off point to share with readers beautiful poetry about all of the different winds we can experience. I love that she has chosen free verse poetry for this story, as chaotic and unorganized as the wind itself.

Combining the poetry with non fiction definitions of the different types of wind in each two page spread really helps readers to understand the facts about wind. I love when words can be defined on the pages where they are found. It makes it so much easier for young readers to remember the material.

There is a fantastic back matter section that provides more detailed descriptions of each type of wind event as well as a chart containing wind speeds and descriptions of each and finally information about an anemometer.

Josée Bisaillon’s illustrations add beauty and wonder to this story. Her paper collage illustrations with whimsical windy surprises throughout capture the reader’s imagination and makes the book stand out from the crowd. Readers will want to return to this story many times to see what new things they can find in her illustrations.