Perfect Picture Book Friday/ Come On, Rain!

Hi Friends!

Yes I’m back in the fall routine of September. Went to my writer’s group this Wednesday, Pilates on Tuesday and Thursday and later today my picture book critique group meets. So yes, I’m back. It’s quieter than I remember. My dog is gone and we have adopted a cat so now we have three. They eat outside in the shed and  I just see them coming and going around. They do wait for me to feed them in the morning when I get up. I see them out my sliding glass door first thing in the morning when I open the curtains. They follow me outside  to the shed and now they are barn cats. Just like their mother. 🙂 

Are your kids in school? Are you back taking classes? Reading books? Adult and children’s? Here is my pick for today. A remembrance of hot summer.  

  Title: Come On, Rain!

  Author: Karen Hesse

  Illustrator: Jon J. Muth

  Awards: Excellence in Illustration, gold medal

  Themes: Seasons, relationships, neighbors, neighborhoods, nature, fun, friendship, community, common childhood experiences, African-American, mothers and daughters,

Suitable for ages: Kindergarten through grade two

Resources:  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/come-rain For a teacher’s guide and then, this

is a site that nurtures children to a global understanding. Engaging adults in a reading aloud video. .http://dev.nlmusd.k12.ca.us/literacy_media/media_pages/Read_Aloud/RA18A_8_063.html,  “We will help our students develop the necessary habits and attitude through modeling and coaching in a supportive and collaborative classroom environment.”

Published by: Scholastic press, fiction, 1999

What it says on the jacket: “Come on, rain!” Tess pleads to the sky as listless vines and parched plants droop in the endless heat. Up and down the block, cats pant while heat wavers off tar patches in the broiling alleyway. More than anything, Tess hopes for rain. And when it comes, she and her friends are ready for a surprising and joyous celebration…

Through exquisite language and acute observation, Newberry medalist Karen Hesse recreates the glorious experience of a quenching rainstorm on a sweltering summer day. Jon J. Muth’s masterful and lyrical watercolors perfectly reflect the spirit of the text.

Why I love it: Tess is a wonderful little girl in tune with her mother and in tune with Nature. She watches the sky and clouds and reads them like an Indian seeing the rainstorm coming way off. She dashes off her porch to warn her friends and they start dancing when the drops start falling. They have so much fun her mother and her mother’s friends join in. The story is told half in poetry and half in paintings. When I first read it I was so moved I immediately had to read it again and again. It is so beautiful. The love expressed for her mother and the joy expressed in the rain is something to behold and makes the reader feel right there which in a picture book for kids is all the more enchanting and more than one could hope for. 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books. You’ll be glad you did. There is a whole list of books in alphabetical order and another list of themes so you can find the perfect book for your needs. This site is great for teachers, librarians and parents seeking that perfect book. 🙂