Ever wonder what makes the wind blow or where clouds come from or why it rains?

REVIEWS:

BOSTON GLOBE

Seymour Simon has the uncanny knack of making complex scientific concepts understandable and interesting. Children will be drawn into every aspect of this fine book.

Seymour Simon has the uncanny knack of making complex scientific concepts understandable and interesting. Children will be drawn into every aspect of this fine book.

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CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, Meredith Kiger

This interesting book, aimed at the elementary student, explains how general weather conditions are formed. Using a simple but well researched text, the author gives a concise explanation of the forces in nature which creates various weather conditions. Using simple…

This interesting book, aimed at the elementary student, explains how general weather conditions are formed. Using a simple but well researched text, the author gives a concise explanation of the forces in nature which creates various weather conditions. Using simple but realistic drawings and color photographs, the author helps the reader visualize the effects of the earth's spin, irregular surfaces, and varying amounts of moisture on winds that produce our weather. Various weather conditions, such as warm and cold fronts, rain, hail, snow, and a considerable discussion about the variety of clouds are included. Weather prognostication and the influence of pollution on our weather are also mentioned. It would have been a plus to have a glossary for the weather terms used in the text, however, this is a fine introduction. Ages 5 to 9.

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SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Meryl Silverstein, American Museum of Natural History, New York City

Gr 4-7. As with Simon’s previous titles on the individual planets (Morrow), this book is a perfect marriage of words and pictures. Each high-quality, full-color photograph or diagram is truly a work of art, suitable for framing. The large-print text,…

Gr 4-7. As with Simon's previous titles on the individual planets (Morrow), this book is a perfect marriage of words and pictures. Each high-quality, full-color photograph or diagram is truly a work of art, suitable for framing. The large-print text, sometimes superimposed on the illustrations, is easy to read. Beginning with the general effects of the sun and the Earth's rotation, continuing with wind patterns, temperature, clouds, and precipitation, and concluding with smog and the greenhouse effect, the author lucidly discusses all of the terms and elements that constitute tropospheric weather. Instruments and the possible affects of human activity on the atmosphere are touched upon. Unfortunately, the full-page diagrams that demonstrate the way the sun warms the Earth and the speed of its rotation do not clearly explain those phenomena. Gail Gibbons's Weather Words and What They Mean (Holiday, 1990) covers much of the same information, but has a cartoon format. Martyn Bramwell's Weather (Watts, 1988; o.p.) is for older readers.

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