The boy next door loves to lick the wind.

“You should try it,” says his mom. “All the best winds are at the beach.”

And so begins an amazing afternoon by the sea for two boys. One doesn’t always speak with words and likes throwing stones—the other likes to collect shells and make sandcastles. But the sea works its magic and by the end of the day the boys discover they both love to lick the wind—together.

A touching story of friendship, told and illustrated with warmth and empathy.

Have you ever had a day at the beach with a friend?

Or somewhere else you love to be?

The two boys in this story have a lovely time together, splashing and whirling, dancing and whooping and, of course, licking the wind!

Just as the boys look different (one has dark hair and the other fair hair, for example)—and they

enjoy different things (one likes to build castles and the other prefers to throw stones into the

sea)—their brains are different, too. We just can’t see that difference.

The boy next door is autistic, which means that he sees, hears, understands and interacts with the world differently. He often wears ear defenders because some noises can hurt his ears. He doesn’t always use words to communicate but has other ways of telling us how he’s feeling,

FIONA CARSWELL

Fiona Carswell is the mother of two boys – one autistic and the other neurotypical – and lives in East Lothian, Scotland. By day, she is a publicist in the Arts & Books sector, promoting (other people’s) books, literary prizes, book festivals, cultural projects, venues and events. In her spare time, Fiona writes occasionally for the Scottish press – mainly the Scotsman – and enjoys flying the flag for Autism Awareness Week each year, giving readers a glimpse into a world they may know very little about and which can be as hilarious as it is challenging, as life-affirming as it is sometimes heart-breaking, and as brilliantly, heart-burstingly bananas as it can be serious, overwhelming and utterly terrifying. The Boy Who Loves to Lick the Wind is Fiona’s first book.

YU RONG

Yu Rong is an acclaimed British-Chinese children’s picture book illustrator. She studied Chinese Painting and Contemporary Art Design at Nanjing Normal University’s Art College and Communication and Design from London’s Royal College of Art, where she studied under Quentin Blake. In recent years, she has been working with several Chinese publishers and has worked with leading Chinese authors, including the Hans Christian Andersen award winner Cao Wenxuan and Andersen award nominee Qin Wenjun. She has received several prestigious international and national illustration awards. Yu Rong’s art work combines traditional hand paper cuts with drawing. Yu Rong lives in the countryside of Cambridge, England, with her husband, Donkey, her three children, Caterpillar, Chilli Pepper, and Bean, and their German Pointer, Captain Sniff.