In her prize winning The Gulf Stream, Ruth Brindze told the story of the mysterious river in the ocean. Now, in this equally exciting and beautiful book, she tells about the rivers of the sky, the most extraordinary of all the winds blowing over the surface of the world. Called the "steadies" by some and the "Trades" by others, they are known as the "rivers of the sky" because, like real rivers between solid banks of earth, the Trade Winds have definite paths and always blow in the same general direction. 

Miss Brindze, with her usual clarity of style and unsurpassed ability to condense and simplify information, tells the story of the discovery of these winds and of their benefit to man from the time Columbus first sailed to America to the present-day use of the Jet Stream. This story includes the exciting discoveries of the scientists Edmund Halley, Matthew F. Maury, and Charles Darwin, men who helped solve the mysteries of the steady winds that affect the lives of every one of us.

Illustrated in three colors throughout by Hilda Simon, The Trade Winds is a fitting addition to Miss Brindze's other distinguished books - and particularly to The Gulf Stream, which was awarded First Prize in the N. Y. Herald Tribune Book Festival the year it was published and which was also a Junior Literary Guild selection. As usual, Miss Brindze has written a fascinating and information-packed book about a subject never before presented to young people. It is a must for all ages. 

From the dust jacket