I am the Storm by Jane Yolen

I am the Storm by Jane Yolen and Heidi EY Stemple 

illustrated by Kristen and Kevin Howdeshell

"Nature is strong and powerful. But I am strong and powerful, too. ... And when the storm passes, as it always does, 

I am the calm too."

Let's begin the the word storm. In this book different family groups experience a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, and a forest fire.

"It's okay to be scared."

But each time, the family find safety, and each narrator, from different parts of America, finds something positive in both the experience and in the clearing up that needs to follow.

"I bought flowers to all the neighbours while the grown-ups swept the ashes and washed windows."

Publisher blurb: A tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane are met, in turn, with resilience and awe in this depiction of nature's power and our own.  In the face of our shifting climate, young children everywhere are finding themselves subject to unfamiliar and often frightening extreme weather. Beloved author Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple address four distinct weather emergencies (a tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane) with warm family stories of finding the joy in preparedness and resilience. Their honest reassurance leaves readers with the message: nature is powerful, but you are powerful, too. Illustrated in rich environmental tones and featuring additional information about storms in the back, this book educates, comforts, and empowers young readers in stormy or sunny weather, and all the weather in between.

The best books, including picture books, teach me new words. In this one I discovered the word roiled. Roil: to (cause to) move quickly in a twisting circular movement. 

The teacher in this blog post used I am the Storm as a poetry writing stimulus. 

Illustrated in rich environmental tones and featuring additional information about storms in the back, this book educates, comforts, and empowers young readers in stormy or sunny weather, and all the weather in between. Brightly: Raise kids who love to read

A treasure full of  love, affirmation, and resiliency. Maria Marshall: The Picture Book Buzz

Child-centered, reassuring, and welcome. Kirkus Star review

Here in Australia this book is sadly VERY expensive ($35) so, while I would love to recommend it as a perfect library purchase, I guess that might not be possible. Perhaps you can make use of this video and you will also see the final pages which explain each of the storms. Here is an interview with Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi. Jane Yolen is the author of over (huge cheer) 400 books!

I have seen a lot of really poor digital art in picture books recently but in this book it is wonderful. The illustrators explain: "The art is sketched in pencil and the finishes are rendered in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet." My favourite page is near the end where the boy looks across a beach towards a lighthouse (signalling hope). 

From the video Project Recovery Iowa

Here are two other books illustrated by husband and wife Kristen and Kevin Howdeshell (sadly they are both way too expensive to add to my shopping list).