This timeless, meaningful song, written by Bob Dylan, has been turned into a picture book for children with hauntingly beautiful illustrations that match this powerful tune. Jon J Muth, the illustrator, used a childlike symbol, a paper airplane, as a metaphor throughout this book to signify "the answer" or each child's individual truth within them: "The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind. The answer is blowin' in the wind."
Muth was touched by this song as a 12 year old boy imagining what type of adult he might want to become. It allowed him to realize that every person is essentially striving for the same things- love, honesty, justice- and to achieve those things is freedom, a feat that takes action.
The song written almost 50 years ago asks, when there is trouble in the world why can't we admit it and do something about it? Why do we fight? Why do we discriminate? Rather than using just people, it talks about mountains, oceans, wind.
The words can be interpreted many different ways but they speak to a yearning in all of us for a better world. And isn't that the kind of world that we all want for our children? ✌🏼️
