Kate, Who Tamed the Wind, by Liz Garton Scanlon

I love walking outside and feeling a gentle breeze on my neck. Even better, I love a blustery, drizzly day, when you can watch the wind whip leaves into a frenzy, all while snuggled under a blanket on the couch with a steaming cup of coffee in your hands. I never actually took the time to think about the wind though – especially how important it is to have structures or trees to break it. Not until I read Kate, Who Tamed the Wind, that is, the fabulous new book written by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Lee White.

In Kate, Who Tamed the Wind, an old man lives at the tippy-top of a steep, steep hill where a strong wind blows and blows, turning his world upside down and leaving him throwing his hands up in frustration. What to do with all this wind that bangs his shutters and bends his boards and spills his tea? A young girl in an itty-bitty town at the bottom of the hill finds the man’s hat that blew out of his house – and after hearing his cry of “what to do?!” carrying on the wind, she finds a solution, too.

I am so in love with the way the prose in this book almost feels like the wind is blowing through the pages. The words are lyrical, the rhythm of the text is musical, and reading it aloud is pitch perfect. This is a beautifully illustrated, breezy story to read with students interested in or learning about ecology. But that’s not all — I love the way it explores friendship, problem solving, and ingenuity, too.  Kate, Who Tamed the Wind is perfect — not just for Earth Day, but all year round.  Two trunks up!

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Want the book? Get it here! Kate, Who Tamed the Wind, by Liz Garton Scanlon. *This is an affiliate link.  HEE received an advanced copy of this book, but all opinions expressed herein are entirely our own.