Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. While its shape, size, and jacket suggest a picture book, this is actually one of the more challenging children's books on clouds and weather: challenging in the best sense, because readers willing and able to follow McMillan's explanation will come away with a fuller understanding of the subject. Students simply looking for pictures of the various types of cloud formations will find good, full-color photographs, clearly labeled, but they may miss the opportunity to put those facts into a broader and more practical context. On the other hand, taking advantage of what's offered here takes a fair amount of motivation and concentration. Beginning with cogent explanations of weather maps, air masses, highs, lows, fronts, and clouds, McMillan moves into the main part of the book, which follows the weather through the seasons. The first page of this section shows a humid summer day, followed on the next page by an approaching storm. Each page contains a large photo of the sky, a local-area weather map, and a vertical chart showing the height of the clouds (if any), as well as a paragraph of text setting the scene and explaining what's happening. A fresh look at an age-old subject. ~--Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-- Avid weather watchers will enjoy this discussion of the different cloud types, the weather patterns with which they are associated, and the climactic conditions they bring. After an explanation of air masses and the various kinds of fronts, McMillan devotes the remainder of the book to pictures of the clouds produced by different combinations of air masses throughout the year. The well-chosen black-and-white and color photographs, which mostly feature cloud formations and an occasional tree, are as important in conveying the information as the text. They add enormously to the book's attractiveness. There is far more information and detail presented than in dePaola's The Cloud Book (Holiday, 1975), which is for younger readers. A clear and coherent introduction to meteorology that will certainly encourage readers to do some forecasting of their own. --Margaret M. Hagel, Norfolk Public Library System, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In an attractive, understandable format, McMillan shows the reader how to interpret the weather maps meteorologists use and to recognize what the clouds and sky are telling about current and upcoming weather. His photographs and graphics perfectly illustrate his explanations and complete a striking package. Index. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The effects of the simplest weather fronts and the clouds associated with them throughout the year. Warm and cold fronts are shown using the symbols made familiar by TV meteorologists; a handy cloud-classification chart shows the shape and height of common clouds. Each page includes a carefully selected photo of the sky and cloud cover, a vertical cross-section drawing of the clouds with their height in both feet and miles, and a line drawing showing the fronts. The photos were taken in an area of Maine called ``thunderstorm alley.'' An attractive, useful guide. Glossary; brief index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
