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"Paint the Wind" by Pam Munoz Ryan

Author:

Pam Munoz Ryan

Publisher:

Scholastic, 2007

Reviewed by:

Lisa Langsdorf, Children's Services, Kenosha Public Library

Gr. 5-9 A satisfying story of a girl and her realization of who she is, and what she can accomplish. Maya’s parents died when she was very young, and she has been raised by her paternal grandmother for as long as she can remember. Maya has been very good at getting around the housekeepers, who are also her jailers. Maya has no freedom and she is not allowed to have any pictures or objects that would remind her of her mother. But without Grandmother’s knowledge, Maya has one picture of her mother, and a box of toy horses that belonged to her mother. Maya feels her connection to her mother through these horses that her mother loved. Grandmother is very strict, and freedom comes every Saturday when Maya is allowed to go to the public library. Maya is resigned to her life, and does the best she can to keep her spirits up. One day Grandmother is just not herself, and she is no longer able to take care of Maya. This is the day that Maya finds out that she has family who wants her and loves her. Maya’s life changes this day, when she is taken out to the ranch where her mother grew up. Maya learns about horses, begins to form roots, and is finally happy. Maya decides that she will one day ride her mother’s horse, the one who looks like she is painting the wind, running free on the range.