Windblown

by Édouard Manceau, Sarah Quinn (Translator)

Overview

An imaginative board book introduction to shapes and creativity

When a gust of wind blows colorful scraps of paper onto a blank page, several animal shapes emerge from the pieces. But who do the scraps belong to? Where did all these pieces of paper come from? And what form will they take next?

The chicken is sure the papers belong to them, but so is the fish, and so is the bird, and the snail, and the frog. Using the same small scraps of paper over and over again to create new animals throughout, Édouard Manceau has created a timeless cumulative tale that will delight and enchant children as they try to figure out just who the pieces of paper belong to.

Newly available in board book format, this imaginative story is sure to delight the youngest of readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771476706
Publisher:	OWLKIDS BOOKS
Publication date:	03/12/2024
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

ÉDOUARD MANCEAU was born in Vendée, France, and began studying Fine Arts at an early age. He often works in paper collage, bringing his friendly characters to life with style and humor. He is the author and illustrator of Windblown.

Editorial Reviews

"The story will appeal to the imagination of the early-years set."

Canadian Review of Materials

"While this book at first seems as minimalist and innovative as Herve Tullet's Press Here, a more traditional story line soon emerges as several characters appear, providing a cumulative narration in which each claims ownership of the shapes."

From the Publisher

"This book makes a useful jumping off point for a paper making activity, a weather activity on wind, or even a litter collection activity in the classroom!"

Books for Kids Blog

"It's truly AMAZING what you can make with shapes ... Édouard Manceau proves it with panache and wondrous imagination."

Sal's Fiction Addiction

"Windblown is a book that screams, 'Turn me into a craft already!!!'…It reaches its full potential when the concept of the book is translated in real life. I hope that happens often."

100 Scope Notes - Travis Jonker

"Manceau offers just enough possibilities to ignite youngsters' imaginations, then sends them off to try some creations of their own."

Shelf Awareness

"An effective tale for young children, using deceptively, delightfully simple design work."

Booklist

French author/illustrator Manceau makes his English-language debut with a cumulative story whose bare-bones simplicity and audience engagement call to mind Hervé Tullet’s Press Here. A small gray-blue circle appears against a field of white on the opening spread (“One tiny scrap of paper...”); it’s soon joined by larger blue and orange semi- and quarter- circles, a red blob, and a few other circles. “Where did they come from? Whose are they?” asks the text. “They’re mine!” shouts a chicken, as the shapes join together to form its head (black lines fill in other details). “No, they’re mine!” responds a fish on the next page, made up of the same reconfigured shapes (the orange quarter-circle changes from beak to tail, the red blob from cockscomb to fin). The shapes create a bird, snail, and frog on later pages, with the animals all claiming ownership of the bits of paper. The wind puts the debate to rest, and invites readers to take part (the shapes are available for download online): “They’re yours now too. What will you do?” A surefire inspiration for imagination-fueled projects at school or at home. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2—Crisp white dominates each page of this design-heavy import. The wind magically blows, "One tiny scrap of paper./Look, there's another!" beckoning readers to observe these bits and pieces closely. Young children will love counting them; there are seven: two small black circles, two larger blue-gray circles, a large sky-blue semicircle, an orange quarter-circle, and a red Matisse-inspired curvilinear shape. "Where did they come from? Whose are they?" invites kids into the cumulative tale, recounting the origin of the windblown shapes. Who tells the story? A series of bickering animals, each claiming ownership. At every page turn, readers are greeted by a different animal squawking, "They are mine!" The speakers have been cleverly transformed into collages composed of the same seven shapes, with a thick black line adding extra details. On the fish, the red lip shape is a fin; on the bird, a wing; and, on the chicken, a crest. This title is meant to encourage hands-on activity, so have your scissors and flannel board ready. The shapes are available as a free download. Marie Hall Ets's classic Gilberto and the Wind (Viking, 1963) is a perfect pairing.—Sara Lissa Paulson, The American Sign Language and English Lower School, New York City

School Library Journal

Where do the seven colored shapes come from, and whose are they? As the shapes come blowing across the clean, white pages, the chicken, the fish, the bird, the snail and the frog each in turn claim them using simple repetitive phrases. "They're mine!" says the chicken, created when the shapes arrange themselves in the form of its head. "I saw them lying around!" But it turns out only the wind has the power to transform the puzzlelike paper shapes into the bodies of each creature and to finally blow them high in the air so readers can "catch" them and make their own (imaginary) collages. The shapes arrange themselves differently on each page to challenge children to see them as different animals. French illustrator Manceau makes extravagant use of white space; the page opposite the text that reveals the wind's role in the drama is amusingly blank. The typeface looks light and insubstantial in relation to the strong graphic line of the illustrations. The text reads clumsily in places, possibly a poor translation from the French original, and is so sparse that some spreads are unsatisfying. A book that at first glance might seem minimalist to the point of vacuity bears closer scrutiny when one appreciates the function the paper shapes can have in allowing a child to identify them in different orientations and even to practice counting. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews