#Review: Catching the Sun and Wind by Anjali Joshi

There is something particularly lovely about a children’s book that manages to tell the story of a remarkable person without making the story feel like a lesson—and Catching the Sun and Wind does that rather well.

The book follows Anna Mani from her childhood fascination with books and her frustration with darkness to her eventual journey towards becoming a pioneering weather scientist. The progression feels natural: curiosity leads to questions, questions lead to learning, and learning eventually becomes a way of understanding and solving real-world problems. I especially liked that electricity itself becomes part of the story—not simply as a “good” invention, but as something that also brings unintended consequences. It gives children an early introduction to thinking about sustainability and whether every solution is necessarily the best one.

The writing is simple and accessible without talking down to young readers, and the story moves at a comfortable pace. The illustrations by Khushi Sridhar are probably my favourite part—they are colourful, expressive and full of movement, particularly in the way the sun and wind are depicted.

Most importantly, the book leaves children with a lovely message: being curious, asking questions and refusing to accept things simply because “that’s how they are” can take you somewhere extraordinary.

Find this book here.