Blue sky. Yellow sun. White clouds. Then, suddenly, gray clouds. Gray sky. RAIN. Using bold graphics and few words, Rain explores concepts like weather, colors, and a changing landscape. It's a book for very young readers to enjoy and learn from, rain or shine.
I found this disappointing, I was expecting a similar standard to Freight Train but this looked rushed and didn't have the design conscious, well polished look of the other book. I liked the use of the text saying rain to depict rain, but other than that I found the illustrations gaudy and ugly.
This book didn't have much of a plot. The pages didn't have full sentences on them. A page would have a few words at most along with a simple illustration to go along with it. Now that I think about it, there actually were several pages with MANY words; in rainy scenes, the word "RAIN" was used in place of the rain drops. Basically the sky was blue and sunny. Then, clouds came, followed by rain, followed by a rainbow. I like the simplicity of the book. It wasn't very deep or challenging, but it was relaxing, in a way. It isn't incredibly entertaining, but can definitely be a beneficial teaching tool. I probably would've like the illustration better if it was even more simplified; the images remind me of clip-art. It would be a good book for 2 to 5-year-olds who are learning new words, and mastering colors and shapes.
This book deserves a mention just because of the innovative illustrations. There are very few words in it unless you count the word "rain" that appears over and over in place of rain drops. I thought that was a neat way to draw the rain and my 4yo agrees. She also likes to say, "rainrainrainrainrainrain" over and over on each page to help me read. It's nice that she cares so much about easing my reading burden ("Don't worry Mommy, I'll read the rain for you") when she hands me a stack of seven books to read as I'm ready to turn out the light.
As soon as I started reading this book, I could tell it was done by the author / illustrator of Freight Train. Simple and perfect for the younger audience, although, this book has a little less magic.
My children absolutely adore this book. Reading literature is so important to the development of a child's mind, and I cannot think of thing I would rather do then sit down to read to them in the evenings. Imagination and growth are so vital in those so young.
A very basic picture book with few words. Could work well as an beginner reader story for kids, but just lacks story. I also wasn't a fan of the illustrations.
First sentence: Blue sky. Yellow sun. White clouds. Gray clouds. No sun. Gray sky. Rain.
Premise/plot: Rain is a simple concept book for young children. It's a book about the weather, and, a book about colors. The rain coming down from the gray clouds--the word rain over and over again.
My thoughts: I really like this one. I do. I am most familiar with Donald Crews' Freight Train. And by familiar, I mean essentially have it memorized. This one has a very similar feel. Is it my favorite picture book about rain? Probably not. That would be UMBRELLA by Taro Yashima. But it still works and is worth reading.
Text: 4 out of 5 Illustrations: 3 out of 5 Total: 7 out of 10
Rain is a book that, surprisingly, has no words. It is comprised solely of pictures. The pictures show the conditions that are necessary for the rain to come. It also deals with themes such as colors and a changing landscape. This would be a good book for children to look at who can't quite read yet. Another use of this book would be to spur on a classroom discussion of how stories can truly be told with just pictures. The pictures seemed a bit dated to me though; seeing as how this book was drawn during the mid-70's.
I really like this, but I'm a bit confused with the art style. It feels very basic, but little ones sometimes enjoy basic. Anyhow, the idea of rain falling in words from the sky is very unique from anything else we have in our room. It's almost like concrete poetry. The little boy I read with like it, and enjoyed saying "rain rain rain rain rain rain" every page. We got to the end where he said "FINALLY. It's over!" (meaning the rain, not the book). Rainbow greeted us, and we were done.
This is a wonderful book to explore colors in our environment. This book shows what happens before, during, and after a rainstorm. This would be a fun book to explore during weather and ask the children to then tell you what happends before, during, and after a rainstorm making an organization chart and coloring the pictures with the same colors in the book. For lower kids it would just be a fun way to explore colors to help the children make text-to-world connections.
I was surprised at how well received this was at lap time. One toddler seemed fascinated with the pictures and several commented on what was in the pictures. 7/3/13
Went over well again in Lap Time. A child asked her parent to check it out after the program. 4/12/15
I love this simple, graphic story for my last Baby/Toddler Story Time book. (Seemed to work even after the disruption of a screamer).
This is a great book to explore colors in our environment. This book can also be used in a science lesson on weather because the book shows what happens before, during, and after a rainstorm. After reading the story the teacher could ask the students to draw a picture of what happens before, during, and after a rainstorm. Then they could share their pictures with the class.
This story is predictable and great for students learning their colors as well as simple words. The illustrations bundles of the word that describes the illustration so the students can use picture clues to read the story.