Review of The Wind by Monique Felix

Let me say right off the bat that I have mixed emotions about books without words. I know that they're great for kids, and that they inspire creativity and an expansive way of thinking about "reading" that is valuable at nearly every age. On the other hand, there are times when it comes to reading at bedtime that I'm tired. And I don't want to narrate a series of pictures and ask engaging questions. I just want to read the words. So, with that confession on the table, let me say that as far as my son is concerned, books without words are great, and this is a wonderful example.

This is part of a series of books - we have four of them (The Wind, The Boat, The House, and The Plane) but there are quite a few more that I have not seen. The main character is a mouse and he appears at the beginning of the book on a plain white page. He begins to alter his environment by chewing that page. Each page turn brings the next part of the sequence, inspiring questions about what the child thinks is happening (or if your child is young, prompting you to describe the action). In The Wind, the mouse is chewing the background page into a square. As he does so, wind begins to blow from behind, pushing around the edges of the paper. At moments, the wind is powerful and can inspire a dramatic account of the action, if you're so inclined.

As the wind calms (and the paper square is moved away from the right side of the page) we see a scene as if from above, revealing a lone cabin in the mountains, a rising hot air balloon, a helicopter, a red propeller plane. As more details of the scene are revealed on the right hand side of each two-page spread, the mouse occupies himself on the left, creating his own form of aerial transportation out of the paper square he chewed free. On the last page he jumps down into the scene with a paper pinwheel on his tail, like a helicopter rotor.

A couple of times when reading these books, my son and I have been inspired to create out of paper whatever the mouse in the book made - a pinwheel, a paper boat or airplane. It's a fun way to connect to the book, and to demonstrate to my kid that his mom actually knows how to make stuff!

My husband complains about this book because there's a mistake in one of the illustrations that he just can't get past. After he pointed it out, I noticed yet another. But I won't mention them here - I don't want to ruin it for you!