Book Review: “Flora’s Very Windy Day” by Jeanne Birdsall

Flora rather wishes her little brother weren’t around–after all, he’s always messing up her projects and getting her in trouble.

When the wind almost blows her away, she tells it that it can’t get her since she’s wearing her super-special heavy-duty red boots. But Crispin, on the other hand… “You may notice that my little brother is wearing regular old purple boots.”

The wind takes Flora’s suggestion and blows Crispin away-and Flora kicks off her boots to join him. While flying through the sky, Flora and Crispin meet one thing after another. Each thing, whether a dragonfly or a rainbow or an eagle or the moon, asks if it can keep Crispin. It seems each could really use a little boy. Flora refuses each time “I’m sorry, but I can’t,” said Flora. “He’s my little brother and I’m taking him home.”

Each time, she hears the response “If the wind lets you.”

When Flora asks the wind why he wouldn’t let her take Crispin home, he responds that he thought she didn’t want Crispin around.

Flora realizes that maybe she does want Crispin around–and the wind kindly returns them both home.

This is a dear story about sibling relationships–sometimes hard, but ultimately worthwhile. Clearly, there’s a moral to this story–but it isn’t a moralizing tale. It’s just fun and real and wildly imaginative (all at the same time).


Reading My LibraryI’m still reading my way through the children’s picture book section of my no-longer-local library. For more comments on children’s books, see the rest of my Reading My Library posts or check out Carrie’s blog Reading My Library, which chronicles her and her children’s trip through the children’s section of their local library.