Welcome, Debra. We're so happy you're here! I'm always interested in where story ideas come from, so I wanted to start off by asking you how you decided to write this book.
First, thanks so much for having me on your blog! I’m exited to be here. Growing up on a diary farm with 120 acres as my playground, I loved being outside. And I loved that feeling in the air when the weather was changing. I’d sit on our porch, a rock, or anywhere and just listen to nature as a storm brewed. Fast forward to 2015 and I was in the middle of doing “PiBoIdMo” (Picture Book Idea Month by Tara Lazar, now knowns as Storystorm) and brainstorming picture book ideas. I was awed by Miranda Paul’s WATER IS WATER and how it showed water changing with the seasons. I decided I wanted to write a lyrical book about weather and wrote down “Lyrical NF book about wind—different types?”
Thanks for sharing that! I'm also curious how you decided to use the metaphor "wind is a dance" as a through line in the book. Was that the plan from the beginning, or did it evolve as you were writing or revising?
“Wind is a dance” was not initially my through line. The book literally started out as a string of poems about various types of wind. When I tried to string the poems into a picture book, it was very disjointed. I had written a few poems using metaphors to describe a wind type and I really liked the imagery it created and decided to use metaphors for each wind. (And boy, some of those metaphors changed a lot!) I also needed an opening and closing and something to tie it together. Initially, my opening mentioned that wind was air in motion—sometimes with a few words, sometimes with a lot. But all of those openings felt dry. I decided to try using a metaphor to explain that wind changes and tried “wind is a chameleon,” but that didn't work very well. As I visualized warm air rising and cold air going low, the idea of a dance metaphor popped in my head. It took a lot of trial and error to tie all of the metaphors together with the overarching dance metaphor, but I’m so thrilled with the end result. Revision took YEARS, lol.
Wow! How fascinating to hear the whole process and all the work that went into it. I am a bit biased, but I am also thrilled that the dance metaphor prevailed. It works so well! How did you choose which types of wind to include, and possibly exclude, from the book?
I started with individual poems about winds from all around the world. But when I started stringing them together, I knew the book needed some kind of “arc.” Initially I grouped them into seasons so I had winds like the Chinook and Santa Ana winds, but the flow wasn’t working for me. I tried grouping them geographically, but that felt scattered. Then I played around with going from relative calm to faster and more destructive winds. With the dance metaphor, that arc just seemed to work. As I revised, I decided to focus on winds that kids in North America would be most familiar with since that would likely be where the book would be published. Although the derecho is a wind not everyone is familiar with, we experienced one in 2012 and lost power for a few days. The derecho fascinated me so much, that I knew I wanted it in my book.
The book's cover is so inviting, and I love how Josée Bisaillon's illustrations are full of so much beautiful energy and movement. What are some of your favorite aspects of the art?
Oh my gosh, Josée’s illustrations are so amazing and so perfect for this book. I am so honored that she agreed to be my creative partner for this project. I knew it would be challenging to illustrate something that is not seen. I assumed she would incorporate the metaphors, but as in most traditional publishing contracts, I had no contact with Josée while she was working on it. The day I got her first sketches, I teared up. When the color ones landed in my inbox, I literally gasped. They were so beautiful. The somewhat transparent aspect of the wind with the objects of my metaphors flowing across the pages makes me swoon. The color scheme she uses is just so perfect.
The beautiful text coupled with beautiful art in this book will make a lot of people swoon! What impact do you hope this book will have on children?
I hope this book encourages kids to look at our natural world in new ways. I love the idea of kids coming up with new metaphors to describe other winds or other types of weather. I want them to see that science, while factual, is also awe-inspiring, and can be imaginative, too. I also hope that learning a bit more about the various winds, even the destructive ones, helps them fear storms less and also be proactive in knowing what to do if they face any dangerous storms.
And finally, to steal a line from the ending of your book (which is an ingenious discussion starter allowing for a variety of scientific, poetic, or other creative responses)... "How would YOU describe the wind today?"
It’s a very sunny, still, late summer day here in Northern Virginia and I only occasionally see the leaves move in my yard. So today the wind is a feather, barely tickling my skin.
Oh, I love that! And thanks again for being here with us today!
To learn more about Debra and all of her books, visit her website here. You can also follow her on social media: Instagram @debrakshumaker, Twitter/X @ShumakerDebra, or Bluesky @debrakshumaker.bsky.social.
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