Gretchen Woelfle

Children’s Literature Top Choice List of 1998

This book is chock full of all kinds of things. It describes different kinds of windmills that have been used for over a thousand years. It’s filled with pictures of windmills and the people who worked them. It’s got funny anecdotes about names people gave their windmills, stories people told about windmillers, and expressions in our language that relate to the windmiller’s trade. You can find out where to see windmills in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. I didn’t plan to write an activity book, but once I got going, I really had fun figuring out all sorts of projects. I’m all in favor of using the wind as a clean, renewable energy source to generate electricity and help clean up our environment. After you read my book, I'll bet you will be too!

A few activities from The Wind at Work
o Make a wind sock and wind vane
o Measure the wind with Admiral Beaufort
o Create a collage using the windmill quilt pattern
o Cook some "corn dodgers" that cowboy windmillers ate.
o Sing a song about the prairie wind, "Starvin' to Death on My Government Claim."
o Make an electrical survey – and a conservation plan – for your house.
o Write to your Member of Congress about renewable energy.

Selected reviews

"The historical information is excellent…. Amusing anecdotes and intriguing facts are woven into the text, keeping it lively."
School Library Journal (starred review)

"Here is a wonderful resource for teachers and students."
KLIATT

"If [children] have already caught the "windmill bug," this is a book to nourish it."
Windmiller’s Gazette

"You will love the ideas you will get from reading this book."
Children’s Digest

Chicago Review Press
www.ipgbook.com
ISBN 1-55652-308-4