Striding Through

There was once a girl who loved to study the weather and make predictions. (She still does.) She was also terrified of storms.  She understood the power they unleashed.  Whenever the sky would darken, panic coursed through her body.  She was well into her middle years before she faced her fear.  By replacing this raw worry with respect, it made her stronger.

Today our climate and our weather are changing globally, creating frightening phenomena. These phenomena leave devasting results in their wake.  Children are rightfully concerned.  I Am The Storm (RISE Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, October 27, 2020) by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple with illustrations by Kristen Howdeshell and Kevin Howdeshell explores extremes in weather and our responses as families and communities.  

When the wind howled and blew,

loud as a train, . . .

During a tornado, a family with their grandmother seeks shelter in their basement.  Flashlights cast their glow on games played and books read.  When the wind calms, the daughter, after helping with clean-up, swirls around the yard, doing her own dance like a tornado.

A blizzard and a power outage provide the opportunity for food to be cooked over a fire built for warmth.  A wildfire chases a family to a nearby lake for safety.  They enjoy their natural surroundings.  Back at home, gathered flowers are given to community members hard at work cleaning and clearing.

During a hurricane, wind and water combine to create multiple dangers.  Families leave, locating higher ground and protecting themselves by moving inland.  After the hurricane passes, damage assessments are made at residences.

Readers are reminded fear is as natural as the perils they face.  It is essential for them to realize, they too have forces within themselves.  Each child is compared to the event they experience.  They understand their abilities and the range of those abilities.  This is power.

For each phenomenon, four, authors Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple supply readers with a repetitive cadence, a group of three.  It's an invitation for readers, welcoming them into the narrative.  This leads us to the strong connected conclusion.  The authors also provide vivid descriptions of each of the three portions of the four events.  These portrayals give us firsthand insights.  Here is a passage.

When the ice and snow fell,

sparkling like fairy dust on the windows,

and all the lights went out,

we made a fire

and cooked hot dogs and marshmallows.

The storm on the prairie showcased on the front, right, of the open dust jacket crosses the spine and extends to the far left on the back.  It is a dramatic depiction of dark purple and black swirls complementing the golden oranges and yellows of the countryside.  Another building on the farm, is placed on the back with a third in the far distance.  The remoteness and flatness of the plains is represented beautifully.

On the book case a hue of purple shown on the dust jacket covers both the front and the back.  White, streaking drops of rain slant slightly to the right, from the top to the bottom.  We are in the storm.  

The opening and closing endpapers are a marbleized blend of teal and yellow.  On the second set a single bird flies toward the right edge.  The bird carrying a small branch signifies the final words of the book.

The art is sketched in pencil and the finishes are rendered in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet 

by illustrators Kristen Howdeshell and Kevin Howdeshell.  The initial title page is a continuous of the canvas seen on the endpapers.  Above and below the text are branches similar to the one carried by the bird.  On the formal verso and title pages, we are in the thick of the storm.

Each page turn reveals a stunning double-page picture.  We move flawlessly from the event, to the family, and to the land and people after the tornado, blizzard, wildfire, and hurricane.  As the narrative directs us to resolutions and empowering words, the elements in each illustration reflect those changes.  The color palette shifts with the incident, season and place in which it happens.  A diverse group of people are shown in each setting.  These images connect us in a very real way to those people.  Each one is an eloquently captured moment.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is after the first storm.  We have come closer to the farmhouse shown on the front, right, of the dust jacket.  The sky is cream-colored with a rising red sun between the home and red truck.  One of the trees is toppled from the storm.  An adult is mending the fence to the right of the truck.  These portions of the scene are on the left side and to the back.  In the foreground on the right side a bird perches on the top of a fence post.  Other pieces of the fence lay on the ground.  The little girl, wearing a red dress, tights, and cowboy boots is spinning around with her arms spread out.  Her hair moves up and out.  There is a special warmth in this illustration, it is one of celebration.

This book, I Am The Storm written by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple with illustrations by Kristen Howdeshell and Kevin Howdeshell, is an important book.  It tells readers they can survive and be strong as they face their fears.  It offers courage and peace.  At the close of the book further information in the form of four paragraphs is provided about tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires, and hurricanes.  I highly recommend this title for both your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Jane Yolen, Heidi E. Y. Stemple, Kristen Howdeshell, and Kevin Howdeshell, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Jane Yolen has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Heidi E. Y. Stemple has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Kristen Howdeshell and Kevin Howdeshell share an account on Instagram and two accounts on Twitter (Twitter.)  At the publisher's website you can view the initial title page.

A Place To Rest

When the leaves fell from the trees, there it was.  It's no bigger than the size of a golf ball.  Through the cold, rain, thunder, lightning, sleet, snow and wind, it has endured.  It's so secure; you can almost imagine it as a part of the branches which hold it.

Out of habit, I look every single day to make sure it's still there, wondering about the parents who crafted it so well.  I think of other questions.  What kind of birds lived there?  Did all the babies fly away?  Will any of the birds come back?  You Nest Here With Me (Boyd Mills Press, an imprint of Highlights, March 3, 2015) written by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple with illustrations by Melissa Sweet is a soothing lullaby of birds and their homes.

My little nestling, time for bed.
Climb inside, you sleepyhead.

A mother snuggles next to her daughter, telling her their nest is wherever

there's you and me.

She reads to her the same story we hold in our hands.  She speaks of pigeons and catbirds living in the city, finding a space to rest on buildings or in shrubs.  Near the edge of water, small wrens weave a refuge.

In the tip-top of firs in a forest or among towering cliffs along the sea, birds safeguard their young.  Tree trunk hollows and below ground burrows are homes.  Even telephone poles provide a place to reside.

Hidden among the cattails, coots are secure.  Nestled among branches, sparrows prefer to be high and dry.  Attached to human structures, swallows shape shelters.  Sunken in sand near the water's edge, plovers place their eggs.

Eagles soar, cowbirds give up and killdeer pretend to protect.  As surely as nests are made up or down, on, in or around the best location by those winged wonders, this mother assures her child of a secure sanctuary.  This nest is her place to grow and rest.


If you seek slumber, the words of Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple are certain to supply peace.  When read aloud, they create a form of music, light and gentle.  The rhymes glide like feathers on the wind.

After each bird and their nesting place are introduced, the same refrain follows.

But you nest here with me.  

Those words hug us, surrounding the reader and listener with affection.  Here is a sample passage.

Some owls nest in oak tree boles,
Some down in abandoned holes,
Hawks may nest on telephone poles,
But you nest here with me.


As soon as I saw the front of the matching dust jacket and book case, without reading the fine print, I knew whose name I would see as illustrator.  The attention given to the smallest detail, the layering of mixed media, the use of authentic and appropriate materials, watercolor and gouache all point to the skill of Melissa Sweet.  The letters of the title made of wood pieces, a nest woven of branches, grass, and leaves framing the sleeping child holding her toy owl and the mother watching her nestlings in their nest placed on a night-sky blue background are her signature style.  To the left, on the back, a single enlarged leaf is placed on the same canvas.  On the opening and closing endpapers, the predominant green on that leaf covers them both.

A two page illustration, worthy of framing, holds the title page information.  On the left a hole in a birch tree holds a tiny bird.  Watching, the mother, a nuthatch, is perched on a branch which extends from the right edge almost to the tree.  Between this branch and a cluster of leaves at the top of the right page is the title text made with twigs.

Although our eyes are initially drawn to the focus of the image, when we look a second time all the smallest elements blend to make a superb picture.  In the child's room drawings of birds hang on the walls.  Outside her window we see birds flying, and a variety of them eating at a feeder.

All the birds and their nests are portrayed realistically.  Each habitat features other flora and fauna appropriate to the area.  Sweet chooses to alter her illustration size from single pages to double pages to enhance the pacing.  To tie the jacket and case to the interior, the central items, the large leaf and nest, are used to splendid effect in the final pages.

One of my favorite of several illustrations is a single page featuring swallows.  The mother has adhered the nest to a beam in a barn.  Five babies are peeking over the top as she looks inside at them.  Beneath this piece of wood is a window.  Outside we see a dog at rest gazing toward a flock of sheep in a pasture.  A garden is growing in front of the field near the home.  These perspectives by Sweet are tranquil and true.

I can't think of a better bedtime story which flawlessly illuminates readers and listeners about birds and their nests than You Nest Here With Me written by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple with illustrations by Melissa Sweet. Reading this book is like wrapping yourself in a cozy comforter.  You will want to add this title to your personal and professional collections.  At the close of the book is a column on the left side of two pages for an Author's Note.  Further details about the fourteen birds highlighted in the narrative appear to the right.  There are four extra pieces of information about each.

Please visit the websites of the authors and illustrator by following the links attached to their names.  They are as individual and interesting as the people themselves.  Author illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi featured Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple on her blog Inkygirl.com with lengthy three question interviews.