When the Wind Came

A spare and beautiful story of resilience. It's a normal day, at first, for a girl on her family farm. But then the wind starts. It blows harder and harder and harder. Her mother grabs her baby brother. Her father opens the root cellar door. They pile in and sit in darkness. But when they emerge, their home is gone. Through a series of short sentences, many beginning with "I remember...," readers experience the girl's emotional trajectory of shock, terror, sadness and, finally, hope - and even laughter.Sometimes, the winds come for children. And when they do, a story like When the Wind Came can make all the difference.

In this timely, poetic story of hope amid loss, acclaimed writer and storyteller Jan Andrews's touching picture book reminds us how, even on the darkest days, light can always be found.It's a normal day, at first, for a girl on her family farm. But soon, the wind picks up. It blows harder and harder and harder. Her mother grabs her baby brother. Her father opens the door to the root cellar. The family piles in and sits in darkness. When they are finally able to emerge, their home is gone.

Through a series of short sentences, many beginning with "I remember...," readers share with the girl her experience of shock, terror, sadness and, finally, hope.Acclaimed, award-winning children's author and storyteller Jan Andrews's last-ever picture book contains a beautiful and grace-filled story of resilience. Using a child's point of view and the perspective of remembering, Andrews's expressive writing provides comfort as it portrays the way joy and laughter can be found in even the worst times. Dorothy Leung uses fluid lines to convey the energy and the emotional arc of the story as her images move quickly from ordinary to extraordinary. With so many natural and human-caused disasters affecting children every day, this deceptively simple book offers a gentle discussion-starter as it captures a universal experience through one specific story.

About the Author

Jan Andrews is the award-winning author of numerous books for children, including The Auction, The Very Last First Time, Stories at the Door and Rude Stories. She has been a Governor General's Award finalist three times, was the founding president of Storytellers of Canada, and was appointed to the Order of Canada. Dorothy Leung studied and worked in architecture before taking the headlong plunge into her illustration dream. In her work she strives to evoke empathy, nostalgia and wonder. She lives near Toronto, Ontario.