Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Against tightly metered verse by Varchol Perron (All the Rocks We Love), a child gazes up and asks the question, "How I wonder, wonder why,/ why are you so blue, big sky?" The sky itself replies in lines both graceful and scientifically accurate: "Me? I'm scattered rays of sun--/ many colors, not just one./ Blue is what the eye perceives,/ and what you see, the brain believes!" Throughout, spreads contrast crisp edges and washlike textures; in one, Henderson (Evidence!) shows sun rays beaming through layers of Earth's atmosphere, filtering them to a brilliant blue. Wind, dark clouds, and thunder move across the sky, each eliciting a wondering question and an answer in sonorous, metrically consistent verse. (Following a question about wind: "Pressure! That's what makes me blow./ Cool air moves from high to low.") Relying on a mixture of observation and questioning, the creators iteratively plumb the natural world "to wonder... WHY?" Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Back matter explains more about each weather phenomenon. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Tricia Lawrence, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Chad W. Beckerman, CAT Agency. (Apr.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
Perron's accessible STEM-friendly text about meteorological phenomena grounds itself in that quintessential question of childhood: "Why?" On alternating spreads, rhymed verses in a singsong cadence pose questions to the sky, wind, clouds, thunder, rain, and a rainbow. These queries all appear on pages that depict children, and each question includes the line, "How I wonder, wonder why," implying a child's voice. In response to the questions, each weather phenomenon replies with a scientific explanation (the wind: "Pressure! That's what makes me blow. / Cool air moves from high to low"). These answers are reinforced with succinct statements in the back matter about each meteorological event. Henderson's illustrations recall Jon Klassen's style and make good use of perspective and scale to evoke the smallness of the child speakers in relation to the vast sky and the world we inhabit. Effective, too, are his use of color and shadow and his energetic line work to depict the dynamism and power of weather events. A great choice for readers wondering about weather. Appended with a selected bibliography. Megan Dowd LambertJuly/August 2025 p.121 (c) Copyright 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
Questions and answers in prose and verse about clouds, rainbows, and other atmospheric phenomena. Perron poses queries about why the sky is blue, what makes winds blow, and other meteorological topics. Quick explanations are provided in the next verse, and somewhat fuller ones are included toward the end. Throughout, the refrain "How I wonder, wonder why" anchors the text. Some rationales are clear enough: Winds arise when cool air rushes in to replace warmer air that has risen; lightning's heat creates atmospheric shock waves that we hear as thunder. But Perron throws in terms such aswavelength andCoriolis effect without defining them. She states that rainbows appear "when sunlight hits a water droplet" but that clouds, made up of water droplets, "usually look white because they scatter all colors of lights equally"--which may leave readers more confused than enlightened. Still, the author's invitation to marvel at the wonders overhead is compelling. Henderson's vividly hued illustrations add drama as well as detail as they track a thunderstorm's progress from sunny skies to darkening clouds, jagged lightning bolts amid heavy rain, arcing rainbows afterward, and at last a shimmering nightscape. When not portrayed as silhouettes, tiny human figures peering quizzically up at the sky's natural beauties vary in skin tone. Strong visuals, but the topic gets, at best, a hasty once-over.(Informational poetry picture book. 6-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
