Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia C. McKissack

Mirandy and Brother Wind Reviews

• 
  Calista

  Mirandy is a spritely tale of a girl with big dreams of winning the cake walk dance. In my growing up, a cake walk was walking in a circle and whoever stopped on the special spot got the cake. In the African American tradition, it was a dance. You strutted around in a dance. That sounds like more fun to me. You got points for being creative and having flair with your steps.
  
  Mirandy wants to dance with brother Wind. She heard if you can catch the wind, you can have it do your bidding and Mirandy knew she was a good dancer, she just needed an excellent partner and who better than the wind. She tries all kinds of things to catch the wind. Her friend Ezel just laughs at her. He wants to dance with her. Well, the ending is worth reading the story for. It’s a fun conclusion.
  
  The colors are bright and there is humor in this book. It’s a neat story, certainly.
  
  The nephew liked the way the wind looked. He wanted to know if the wind was really a person. I told him he was personified for the story, but as far as I know, the wind is not a person. He thought the story was interesting and he gave this 3 stars. The niece also enjoyed the anticipation of the dance in this. She liked Mirandy's yellow dress at the end, but not the see-through scarves tied to her wrist. The dancing was fun. She gave this 4 stars.
• 
  Manybooks

  I truly simply do massively adore the artwork for Mirandy and Brother Wind (and therefore also totally celebrate the 1989 Caldecott Honour designation for illustrator Jerry Pinkney). For yes, his pictures are an utter aesthetic delight, colourful, expressive, and yes indeed, they also absolutely shine and sparkle with regard to aesthetically presenting a marvellous sense of time and place (in my opinion more than likely 1930s or 1940s Southern States). And while I still sometimes tend to find the level of visual detail in Mirandy and Brother Wind perhaps a trifle too busy, I also have to admit that Pinkney’s level of illustrative detail actually seems to often be rather necessary in order for the intended audience, in order for the picture book crowd of younger children to adequately understand Patricia C. McKissack’s text. Because in my humble opinion, while in Mirandy and Brother Wind, McKissack does textually present a lot of interesting detail, the amount of featured narrative is actually (and in my opinion) sometimes both a bit overwhelming for a picture book and also with its use of vernacular also a bit difficult to understand, so that without Jerry Pinkney’s simply glorious illustrations, some younger readers (or listeners) might well become distracted and/or narrationally lost.
  
  And while on the whole I have certainly enjoyed Mirandy and Brother Wind and also much appreciate Patricia C. McKissack’s verbal message of not being able to catch the wind as well as being faithful to one’s true friends (like Mirandy finally proves to be with Ezel and how they then also end up winning the coveted cakewalk), without Jerry Pinkney’s artwork, McKissack’s narrative (to and for me) really would have been both rather a reading slog and also sometimes a bit unclear in its concept and manner of expression (and which is also why my three stars for Mirandy and Brother Wind is indeed mostly for the illustrations, as the narrative really does leave a bit to be personally desired with Patricia C. McKissack’s tendency towards overwordiness and narrational distraction).
• 
  M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews

  Absolutely fantastic, can not recommend enough. A plus plus PLUS.
  
  In all seriousness, the artwork is fantastic and so is the story.
  
  
  
  Have a strawberry-tastic thumbs up!
• 
  Jenny

  Mirandy wants to capture brother wind so he will be her dance partner for the cake walk. She tries several tricks to catch him...it's not so easy. But finally she has caught the wind. Then when another girl says unkind things about her friend Ezel, she makes a wish on the wind and asks Ezel to dance. She is a true friend. Cute story and I liked learning a bit about the history of the cake walk. I like the illustrations but the portrayal of the wind as almost human is a bit odd to me. (Don't misunderstand...I recognize that many cultures viewed nature as being human like and this is definitely a multicultural book so I think it is appropriate for the story just strikes my "modern" sensibilities as odd in a story that otherwise seems so realistic. Hope that makes sense.)
• 
  Luann

  Even though I'm not a big fan of the wind (I live in a very windy place), I like how Jerry Pinkney has illustrated the wind here! The wind is treated as very nearly a real person in the text, and I like that he is illustrated as very nearly a real person as well. This is a fun one! I knew how it was going to end, but I still enjoyed reading it. I also really liked the author's note at the beginning so that we know Patricia McKissack's grandparents were cakewalk winners, and we are given a little bit of background on how the cakewalk worked - which is somewhat different than the cake walks I know about.
• 
  Amy

  My niece and I read Mirandy and Brother Wind a couple of years ago, I guess. I enjoyed the book, thought it was fun and unique, but if I remember correctly, my niece found it to be a little confusing. As I've mentioned before, she's a very literal child, and the idea of dancing wind was just not something she could wrap her mind around.
  
  The illustrations were lovely.
• 
  Johnnie Anderson

  This book is great, I love it. It has a nice story to it. It teaches the reader a lesson within the text. The ending also is nice because it gives you the chance to infer because it does not tell you what actually happens. I recommend this book to any age.
• 
  Stefanie

  The story is cute but it was so poorly told; twice I thought I'd missed a page because it just jumped to the next idea.
• 
  SamZ

  1989 Caldecott Honor - Favorite Illustration: Mirandy trying to catch the wind in the beautiful, colorful quilt!
  I love this quirky folk tale about a young girl's quest to capture the wind in order to force him to help her win the cake walk. Even more than the story, though, I love the beautiful illustrations that share in the charming, wonderful tale. This, to me, is the perfect example of what the Caldecott is for: a nearly seamless pairing of wonderful illustrations and a beautiful story. I also appreciated the author's note about the origin of the cakewalk and the importance of said celebrations to her family.
• 
  Beverly

  The author based this story on an African-American cakewalk tradition in which couples danced in a competition in order to win a cake. She places the story in the early 1900s, when she has a photo of her grandparents who had just won a cakewalk. It is also set in the south, with dialect to match. The watercolor paintings are lively and energetic, and of course, very colorful. Pinkney is a whiz at illustrating people, animals and plants.
• 
  Liz

  This book has great themes like determination, imagination, and standing up for other people. All very subtle and part of the story rather than a heavy handed attempt to teach a lesson. I'd say the age range for read aloud is 4-8, but it is a bit long for the young attention span.
  I loved the introduction with a personal note about the history of the cake walk.
  A solid 3.5, just not quite a 4 for me.
• 
  Stefanie Burns

  I liked that this story began with an author's note providing a background story to the book. Too many times the author's note is at the end which ads information that would have been helpful during the story. The concept of catching wind was an odd one and I can foresee kids having a diffiult time understanding how you can see and catch wind. In the beginning of the story I felt the wind looked like a leprechaun. Nothing particularly outstanding about this book. It's an ok story.
• 
  Lynn A. Davidson

  Mirandy was determined to win the cakewalk that night, so she set out to capture Brother Wind to be her dance partner. (The cakewalk was introduced by slaves and is rooted in Afro-American culture.) Mirandy's clumsy friend Ezel, trying to make her jealous, teased her that he would ask another girl to the dance with him, but she still tried to catch Brother Wind.
  Lovely ending and wonderful illustrations.
• 
  Cheryl

  Well. Youtube has videos that are samples of stage plays based on this, with Black (African-American? British African?) casts. And the author and illustrator are African-American and won many awards given to recognize works of multi-cultural value. So, to claim that this is racist is misguided.
  
  Unfortunately, I still just plain didn't care for it. Dunno why. Sorry.
• 
  Katie Fitzgerald

  This story didn’t do much for me, but I was interested in the wind being characterized as a man. The ending felt like a let-down, though. (This is one of the few books of this challenge about which I truly have nothing to say. Hence the very short commentary!)
• 
  Karen

  I liked the overall story, I just didn't like the way it was told. The dialect was outdated and unflattering, and the pacing was irregular -- at time dragging, and at other times jumping ahead.
  
  The illustrations were great, though.
• 
  Meleah Brown

  This was an inspirational story that I enjoyed reading. Mirandy is such a fun character and I enjoyed learning about the cultural background presented during this book.
• 
  Seema Rao

  Tale of a young girl who makes friends with the wind told in realistic, but magical watercolor illustrations.
• 
  Cara Byrne

  The art in this book is so wonderful, though the story lost me and my preschooler at times. There are great moments in the story and the book is worth looking at just for the illustrations.
• 
  Kathryn

  Its a cakewalk, early black history style. Caldecott Honor book with gorgeous, colorful pictures. Whimsical story of dancing with the wind.
• 
  Prabhat sharma

  Mirandy and Brother Wind (Paperback) by Patricia C. McKissack, Illustrator- Jerry Pinkney- Hindi language translation by Aravinda Gupta- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the Afro-American story about cakewalk dance. In this dance, the winner must be so that as if wind is her brother and partner in the dance. Junior Cake walk Jubilee will soon be organised. Young girl Mirandy has viewed the photograph of her grandmother performing the dance and winning the cake. Mirandy has to control wind. decided to win this dance event. Mirandy is determined to capture the best partner for the junior cakewalk jubilee. Grandmama Beasley says, “Can’t nobody put shackles on Brother Wind, chile. He will be special. He will be free.” With neighbors up and down Ridgetop suggesting all manner of strategies, and friend Ezel laughing at each foiled one, Mirandy grows ever more determined: she’ll get hold of that Brother Wind yet! She meets a magician who provides her with to ribbons to wear for the dance. She informs her that you can control wind with the help of black Pepper. On the evening of the dance, Mirandy & Ezel dance with spirit as if they have captured the wind. Judges declare them the winner. Jerry Pinkney’s illustrations are rich, eye-catching watercolors of the rural South America. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.
• 
  Sarah Elisabeth

  This story is about a young girl going on a Cakewalk the next day. She is determined to catch Brother Wind and have him for her partner in the Cakewalk. She then decides for Ezel to be her partner in the Cakewalk and they dance and have a grand time. I think this is great book to have in your classroom because it is a diverse book. This book speaks differently than other books you see on shelves so it will help your students see that not everyone speak in the way they do. I think a great teaching lesson would be to have your own Cakewalk in your classroom because most students may have never heard of this term to begin with. So they first get to read a book about this and then have their own. This will also show your students in the classroom a sense of diversity because not every culture has a Cakewalk as fellowship.