Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia C. McKissack

Mirandy gets mad and tells her to stop making fun of Ezel since he's her friend, and declares that she and Ezel are going to win the cake. Y'all gonna need it.' Orlinda scoffs, saying that she's not dancing with Ezel, since he's so clumsy and she doesn't want him to trip over her. Orlinda asks her, 'Who gon' be yo' partner?' Mirandy says, 'He's real special. Later, the wind is in Mirandy's family's barn, and she knows that her father had stuffed all the cracks in the barn so it wouldn't leak, so she slams the barn door shut and declares that she's caught the wind. Mirandy fails at catching the wind in a bottle. Mirandy goes to visit a 'conjure woman' who tells her how to catch the wind in a bottle, only requesting that Mirandy wear a particular scarf at the dance for payment. Mirandy and Ezel seem to be around 12 or 14. Ezel suggests that she might need a partner, but she thinks he's mocking her instead of trying to flirt, and basically says, 'You wait! I'll show you I can catch the wind!' She keeps trying and failing, and then returning to Ezel for advice. Mirandy expresses apathy at this suggestion, and then leaves and tries to catch the wind with a quilt and fails. He asks Mirandy if he should ask Orlinda to dance with him. He doesn't actually tell her, though, he just says, 'But I thought I.' and then trails off. She tells him that she's going to dance with the wind at the cakewalk, and it's pretty clear that Ezel wanted to dance with her and is disappointed. She asks various people, and her friend Ezel, who is super clumsy, comes by. Maybe she just has a fierce-looking brow, or resting angry face.įor the rest of the book, Mirandy wanders around, trying to figure out how to catch the wind. 'There's an old saying that whoever catch the Wind can make him do their bidding.'' Oddly enough, the illustration does not make her look like she's smiling. Mirandy is planning on going to the junior cakewalk the next evening, and sees the wind blowing by and personified as 'Brother Wind.' Mirandy expresses a wish to her mother that Brother Wind would be her partner at the dance. It seems to take place in the American South based on the dialects in the book.

The main character is a girl named Mirandy.

Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia C. McKissack