Meet the weather by Caryl Hart. Illus. by Bethan Woollvin

Meet the Weather is a brightly coloured rhyming picture book that will entertain younger readers with its clever text and vibrant illustrations.   Each aspect of the more common weather conditions is introduced to the reader as a young child and their pet travel on a hot air balloon through clouds, wind, thunder, lightning, tornado, fog, snow, sunshine, rain and finally a rainbow. The lyrical text is lots of fun and as a read-aloud text lends itself to role play and actions:

I’m the WIND, whooshing wildly!
I’m the gushing and RUSHING of air.
There are times when I’m soft as a feather-
Feel me tickle and lift up your hair.

 It’s great fun when I’m GUSTING and blowing.
I can make the trees swish and fro
So take a deep breath and come join me
Are you ready… One two, three-BLOW!

Each of the weather conditions are presented in bold font and there are highlighted key words throughout. The full-page illustrations are busy and bright with fluorescent colours added in for extra emphasis.

This book is a great introduction to weather for early years students. A companion book to Meet the Planets and Meet the Oceans and an enjoyable book to be shared out aloud.

Themes: Weather, Rhyme.

Kathryn Beilby