I Am the Storm

A tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane are met, in turn, with resilience and awe in this depiction of nature's power and our own.

In the face of our shifting climate, young children everywhere are finding themselves subject to unfamiliar and often frightening extreme weather. Beloved author Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple address four distinct weather emergencies (a tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane) with warm family stories of finding the joy in preparedness and resilience. Their honest reassurance leaves readers with the message: nature is powerful, but you are powerful, too. Illustrated in rich environmental tones and featuring additional information about storms in the back, this book educates, comforts, and empowers young readers in stormy or sunny weather, and all the weather in between.

Jane Yolen was an accomplished and awarded author and poet, with over 450 books published in her lifetime. Her expansive oeuvre includes the Caldecott winner Owl Moon (in its 80th printing), the National Jewish Book Award-winner The Devil’s Arithmetic, the 20-million copy bestselling series HOW DO DINOSAURS, as well as many other award-winning books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Jane was also a song composer, a storyteller, and a beloved mother and grandmother. Jane passed away in 2026, but her books will live forever.

Heidi E.Y. Stemple is a second-generation writer. She spends as much time teaching and talking with kids as she does writing. She has published 28 books, mostly for children, and many of them co-written with her mother, Jane Yolen. Her newest solo book, Counting Birds (Quarto), made the NSTA Outstanding Science and the Best STEM lists, won the John Burroughs Riverby Award, and was named a Green Earth Book Award honoree. Heidi lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts.

Kevin & Kristen Howdeshell of The Brave Union are a husband-and-wife team based in Kansas City and have been collaborating for 10 years. Most of their work has been in narrative animation / animated sequences. Now with three kids of their own, the tradition of the bedtime story has become a pillar of their nightly routine. As a result, their focus has shifted on creating art geared for the family.