When sixteen-year-old Brent Bishop inadvertently causes the death of a young woman, he is sent on an unusual journey of repentance, building wind toys across the land. In his most ambitious novel to date, Newbery winner Paul Fleischman traces Brent's healing pilgrimage from Washington State to California, Florida, and Maine, and describes the many lives set into new motion by the ingenious creations Brent leaves behind. Paul Fleischman is the master of multivoiced books for younger readers. In Whirligig he has created a novel about hidden connections that is itself a wonder of spinning hearts and grand surprises.

THE WHIRLIGIG MAKER'S BOOK covers everything you need to know to get started in the craft and hobby of making animated whirligigs. Materials, tools, and techniques are detailed and full-size patterns and step-by-step instructions and illustrations are given for making fifteen unique animated whirligigs: Dove; Folk Rooster; Flying Unicorn; Girl Gymnast; Penguins on Teeter-Totter; Dancing Man; Unicycling Roadrunner; Carousel; Kids on Teeter-Totter; Trampoline; Ferris Wheel; Unicyclist; Flying Duck; Acrobats; and Clown. The projects were selected to introduce you to whirligig making and then take you on to an advanced skill level. The Author Jack Wiley earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1968, did exercise physiology teaching and research, and has written fifty published books. Dr. Wiley first became interested in making whirligigs in the late 1980s, and has designed and built hundreds of them since then. THE WHIRLIGIG MAKER'S BOOK is the result of this interest and experience.

More than two dozen traditional and original models of the wind-powered toys known as whirligigs appear in this how-to manual. Easy-to-follow instructions, detailed illustrations.

Complete patterns and instructions for 30 charming, wind-driven toys: Signaling Trainman, Flying Puffin, Colonial Dame, many more. Only inexpensive materials and a few tools needed. 113 illustrations.

What makes these charming mechanical marvels spring into action? Cranks, propellers, levers, and other mechanisms trigger a variety of eye-catching movements, from arms that rise and fall to jaws that work up and down. The author reveals his process for designing and creating a series of ingenious toys and objects from wood.

From a bold new voice in British comic fiction, a hilarious story of a middle-aged man who drops everything to move to the wilds of Scotland—discovering both a strange breed of capitalism and the redemptive power of nature. Claypole is not “a large man.” He is a fat man. A fat man with thin limbs, like an egg with tentacles. And life is not going well. He’s alone, idle, and on the brink of a medical crisis when a childhood acquaintance makes him an offer he can’t understand, can’t talk about, but ultimately can’t refuse. A week later, he finds himself in rural Scotland, plunged into an eccentric community at war over a wind farm. Claypole is supposed to be a backer, but he has no idea what side he’s on, even though it may earn him a lot of money. All he wants is to look like a hero in front of the woman with the bright blue eyes who brought him here. To do so he must run the gauntlet of a family with many dark secrets, some dangerous hippies and their hallucinogenic potions, and the wilderness itself with all its threats and dangers. Whirligig is a raucous, joyous, often poignant comedy about the redemptive power of the countryside. Written with wit and an intuitive sense of pace and focus, it’s a timeless classic about how—or how not—to turn your life around.

Easy-to-follow instructions and measured drawings for creating 25 charming little wind-driven toys — from the simple Baking a Pie whirligig to the Woman at the Computer to various weathervanes. For all levels of ability.