Furious that her little brother, Crispin, has spilled her paints—again!—and irritated that her mother makes her take him outside with her to play, Flora doesn’t really care when a strong wind lifts Crispin off the ground and begins to carry him away. But when she sees how frightened he looks, she goes into heroic big sister mode and grabs his hand, causing the two of them to be blown up into the sky together. Every creature they meet on their lofty journey asks Flora if it can have her little brother. This ends up affirming for Flora just how much she wants to continue having her little brother around. The sweet tone of Matt Phelan’s sweeping watercolor illustrations are perfectly paired with the understated, just-this-edge-of-mean text so that the two together give the book just the right balance-and an extra level of humor for the adult reader. (Ages 3–6)

When Flora and her pesky little brother, Crispin, are whisked away by a swirling and swooping wind, she gets the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to give her brother away. With tempting offers from a dragonfly, the man in the moon, and even the wind itself, she will find it difficult to choose. But Flora would do anything to get rid of Crispin, wouldn’t she?

Jeanne Birdsall’s utterly charming picture book takes flight in Matt Phelan’s twisting, twirling watercolors, brimming with wit and whimsy.