Come On, Rain!

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical picture book
Review: This lyrical ode to the coming rain, accompanied by the soothing wash of lush watercolors, make Hesse's Come on, Rain! sure to please young children. In prose that reads like poetry, young Tessie bemoans the heat of summer while waiting with confidence that rain will soon come. Along with her multicultural friends and all their mammas, Tessie dances in gratitude for the refreshing wetness the rain bestows. While the lyrical prose is of such beautiful quality it could stand on its own, the soft watercolor illustrations portray the emotions of the characters in such lovely detail; the two, the prose and illustrations, combine to create a delightful work of art. Even with the vertical lines of rain which one would expect to stop the motion of the story, Muth manages to create a sense of flowing from left to right, page to page, in keeping with the cadence of the text by using achromatic colors for the backgrounds of most pages. Recommended for children ages 4-8. Public librarians may want to share this title in a storytime about rain, along with Bill Martin's Listen to the Rain.

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical picture book
Review: This lyrical ode to the coming rain, accompanied by the soothing wash of lush watercolors, make Hesse's Come on, Rain! sure to please young children. In prose that reads like poetry, young Tessie bemoans the heat of summer while waiting with confidence that rain will soon come. Along with her multicultural friends and all their mammas, Tessie dances in gratitude for the refreshing wetness the rain bestows. While the lyrical prose is of such beautiful quality it could stand on its own, the soft watercolor illustrations portray the emotions of the characters in such lovely detail; the two, the prose and illustrations, combine to create a delightful work of art. Even with the vertical lines of rain which one would expect to stop the motion of the story, Muth manages to create a sense of flowing from left to right, page to page, in keeping with the cadence of the text by using achromatic colors for the backgrounds of most pages. Recommended for children ages 4-8. Public librarians may want to share this title in a storytime about rain, along with Bill Martin's Listen to the Rain.