WEATHER

An overview of weather and its causes, with pull-tab scenes that switch back and forth.

In neatly squared-off bursts of facts and general observations the survey opens with a look at the sun’s origin and effects. On successive thematic spreads it then introduces rain, wind, snow and ice, and finally thunder and lightning. Along with being a bit vague on the difference between weather and climate, Otter frequently oversimplifies—claiming, for instance, on the same leaf that a lightning bolt “travels downward” and that negative atmospheric charges anthropomorphically “search for” and “sense” positive ones. She does offer at least basic references to weather norms and extremes, spiced with specific temperature and wind speed records or other statistics, plus brief explanations of important concepts such as the water cycle, acid rain, and even the “Goldilocks Zone.” Tolson goes for stylized nature scenes in her simple cartoon pictures; some of the rare, small human figures seem to have dark skin. The front cover and each verso feature a larger illustration that is transformed by the pull of a ribbon…usually in an innocuous change from, for example, daytime to night, but in one disquieting instance showing a tornado-threatened family packing up a car that is next seen flying through the air.

Sketchy but not (quite) as bland as it seems.