At first, I was into Welcome, Rain! by Sheryl McFarlane. I liked the idea of saying thank you to the rain (okay, it is a bit more “touchy feely” than I usually like, but I
was in the right mood for it and thought that in April 2023 it will be the perfect Spring read). And the art of Christine Wei was fun. It was simple, not simplistic, and colorful. Not overly detailed but nicely detailed and it fit the young, narrators voice. I liked even when they asked the rain to take a break, as the rivers full and they wanted to play outside. It was then that I was ooohkay, lost me.
When the rain finally comes back (as the narrator told it that it was too hot to sleep, the trees missed the rain more than the children, etc.) and they welcomed it back I thought, “The end.” Nope, there is another half of the book. I almost think that it should have been in front of the “Welcome back” part. Still, it was only a little bump for me and overall, the book is nicely done.
We see the plus (and a few minuses) of the rain, we see how the rain is helpful to not just people but the land and animals around us, and we see that the rain can do a little “quick change” during the year and find itself a new way to present itself as snow. This is both poetic and factual without being “too much” of either. Most ages can enjoy as it can grow with the child and works as a read loud to a group or individual one-on-one. I am not sure of the actual dimensions of the book, as I read it via Edelweiss, but the first half will make a great board book, otherwise, the regular picture format is going to work well.
