When I’m browsing the shelves at the library some books just seem to jump out at me and I have to pick them up, browse through and then check them out for my daycare children, ages 2 – 7 years.
This was the case with the picture book Rain with a baboon with his arms reaching up on the cover.
The Story
This is a simple story of what else?… Rain This book talks about rain in Africa’s savanna and how all of the animals are aware of the coming rain and also how they enjoy of the fruits of a good rainstorm.
A porcupine sniffed around.
“It’s time,” she whispered
“The rain is coming!
I can smell it.
I must tell the zebras.”
The zebra, baboons, rhino and the lion all know it is going to Rain using a different sense. The lion sums it up by saying:
“Yes, the rain is here.
I can smell it.
I can see it.
I can hear it.
I can feel it.
And,” he sighed,
“I can taste it.”
The animals enjoyed the things that the rain brought, like leaves on trees, squelchy mud, fruit and the water in the water hole, but as the sun shone things slowly dried up again.
The Illustrations
One of the most glorious things about this book is its fabulous illustrations.
Each two page spread is filled with vibrant blues, greens, fiery red/orange, gold and the use of gray, black and white on the animals adds to each pages interest as well.
Very often we can see the brush strokes on drawings as the artist swept across the page with color. Pages like where the red soil was hot and dry show this with a fiery red ground and bright yellow brush strokes coming up from that. It actually looks as if it is hot and dry.
The animals are painted to look realistic, but with just a touch of personality to their faces. The colors used are the natural colors you would find them to be in Africa.
The text is an extremely large black font that is very easy to read either with a child on your lap or holding this book up.
This book would make an excellent early reader as well because lines are repeated over and over, reinforcing words as children learn to read them.
My Feelings
Rain is a wonderful book that children and their adults will enjoy over and over again.
Sonny (4 years) and Cindy (2 years) love running their hands over the beautiful pages as we read, it almost seems as if you can feel the softness of the lion or the quills of the porcupine. The illustrations are just so wonderful in this book.
I love the way the story winds its way from the hot dry savanna to the rain and then the drying up again until the ground once again begins to crack. This book helps children to understand what rain can do, why we need it and what happens when it hasn’t rained in a long time.
We talked about where Africa is and the how things might be the same and how things may be different from where we live. I used a globe to show them where Africa is and although I know the two of them don’t quite get that yet, I do like introducing new things to them.
I also like the way the five senses are used by the animals to know that the rain is coming. Each animal is aware of the rain by seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing or touching the rain. This gave us a chance to talk about the five senses and the different ways we use them.
This is just such a beautiful and educational book that children from 2 – 7 years old can enjoy. It has so much to it, great illustrations, the five senses, weather, animals and the cycle of life. Wow, that is a lot to pack in to one picture book!
Nuts & Bolts
This was the first book written and illustrated by Manya Stojic, but I’ve noticed she has many more since. I will definitely be checking out more wonderful books by this author.
Crown Publishers, Inc. published this 32 page hardcover book in 2000 with a jacket price of $18.95 US and $21.95 CAN. It is also available in paperback format.
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