Whoosh!! - Hardcover

by Karen Stegman-Bourgeois (Author), Emilia Ruminska (Illustrator)

A young girl can't ride her bike outside because it's too windy. Pouting by the window, she notices her nemeses, Mr. Zimmerman, fighting the wind and going nowhere. They aren't friends because his cats keep our girl awake at night.

When Mr. Zimmerman turns the corner, she can't see him anymore, so she goes to her room for a better view. The whole neighborhood seems to be out there, clinging to each other so they don't blow away, including a nun, a mailman, a poodle, Timmy, and Allison Abigail Crumb. And clinging to Allison tight to her hip, Mr. Zimmerman flapped like the sail on a ship.

The best way to rescue them is with her lassoing skills, so she sets out to do just that. She gets the poodle first and eventually everyone else. Once home, they settle in with soup and small talk to wait out the storm. Mr. Zimmerman makes the girl nervous, and when she finally peeks at him, he winks. She figures out that he's not so mean after all. He just has a mean "resting face."

He confesses to the girl that he practiced lassoing until he turned eighty-two but could never master it. She is quite the young cowgirl. Happily, they become friends.