Hear the Wind Blow by Doe Boyle illustrated by Emily Paik

Description of this book by Doe Boyle: Hear the Wind Blow portrays the stages of the Beaufort wind scale with precision and also with poetic free verse, style, and imagination. Readers explore the rising and falling of a storm as the wind picks up from a kiss of air, to a gentle breeze that shivers the shifting grasses, to a roiling hurricane that makes tree roots shudder. And, when the winds calm, neighbours emerge to help clean their community. Back matter offers a description of "air on the move," background on the wind force scale, a glossary, and resources.

Someone needs to draw up a timeline showing the evolution of non fiction. Boy oh boy it has come so far in recent years.  Take a look at my post about the book When Cloud became a Cloud. This book has a very appealing format and yet it contains all the facts perfect for a curious child who wonders about clouds, and rain and the importance of the water cycle.

Now I have discovered Hear the Wind Blow. The air around us is never still. In our usual human way we have developed a classification system to explain the different intensities of wind - the Beaufort Scale. This scale was developed in 1805 by Francis Beaufort, an officer of the Royal Navy and first officially used by HMS Beagle.

Image Sources: Wikipedia and eOceanic

Image Source: National Geographic

How can we present this for children?  It is a scale of numbers from 0-12 with corresponding wind speeds. These are interesting facts which can easily be presented in a numerical table but what about using a poem to explore the changing strengths of the wind?  

Hear the Wind Blow is a poetic story that explains the wind and follows the Beaufort scale. Read more about this book here. This book will be a perfect addition to every school library. You could pop it with your poetry books or with other books about weather and wind at [551.51]. 

Here is a description of calm:

Awaken to the calm

the peaceful pink of dawn's light, quiet as the inky night.

Note a kiss of air - 

a soft breath, a phantom wisp, faint as shadows, cool and crisp.

Here is a description of level 9:

Now the windstorm ships and wails - 

sucks at sand and billows sails. 

Shut the door! Stay inside. A storm approaches! You must hide.

Here are some other terrific books about the wind:

Wild is the Wind

Kate who Tamed the wind

Ollie and the Wind

Bluebird

Here are some older books by Doe Boyle which may be in your school library: