Raindrops Roll by April Pulley Sayre

The author of Eat Like a Bear returns with another great nonfiction picture book.  In this book she offers the joy of rain and water.  Told in a poetic way, the text conveys the anticipation of rain that you can feel coming and the changes in the sky.  When the rain arrives, it makes noise, makes things wet, including animals out in the weather.  There is running water, mud, all sorts of changes take place.  When the rain stops, the raindrops remain and weigh things down, dot and cling.  They change things as they linger until the sun returns to dry them away.

Sayre’s poem dances like the rain itself, pattering along and showing the beauty of the rain.  This is a book that celebrates darkening skies and weather, showing the importance of rain, the way that insects protect themselves from it, and the dazzle that it leaves behind.  Sayre manages to convey science along the way, though the focus of the book continues to be the loveliness of this type of weather.

Her photographs are part of the dazzle of this book.  They are large, clear and brilliantly done.  She captures insects before and after the rain, drops that merge together, rain as it runs and dots.  Her photos are colorful, filled with water and gorgeous.

A perfect book to share in the spring or just before heading out with umbrellas into the garden.  This is just the sort of book we need to encourage children to get outside and play in the rain.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.