Picture Books: Rainstorm

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lehman, Barbara. 2007. Rainstorm. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 061875396

BOOK REVIEW
Stuck inside his seaside home on a rainy day, a lonely boy discovers a mysterious key underneath a chair. Curious, he tries every known lock in the house, but is unsuccessful every time until he slips the key into a large travel trunk. A perfect fit! Hidden inside is a ladder that leads our character deep down to an underground tunnel, which at the other end is a long spiral staircase that takes him all the way back up above ground. To his delight he is now on the lighthouse island that he has seen out his playroom window, and is able to play with new friends on a bright sunny day. When it’s time for supper he must leave his friends and go home, but the next day he brings them through the tunnel to his home so that they all could play once more. In this wordless storybook, Lehman’s simple and clear and brightly colored illustrations, presented in panel, single- and double-spreads format, tell the exciting story of one boy’s adventure on a dreary day and the making of new friends. Rainstorm will certainly capture the imagines of young readers and will make them wonder if there is a hidden ladder in their house.

CONNECTIONS
*Have the readers narrate or create their own text for the book.