Elizabeth Bluemle's (My Father the Dog) simple, musical rhymes and G. Brian Karas's (Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!) photo, gouache and pencil collages capture the way a thunderstorm in the city unites a community.
The first few raindrops appear in close-up, as if just outside the edge of a child's umbrella, as readers view a girl and boy from behind, looking through an iron gate. Nimbus clouds threaten to blot out a sunny sky: "Tap TAP,/ dark clouds./ Tap TAP,/ damp air./ Tap TAP,/ cold drops/ of rain/ dot hair," goes Bluemle's onomatopoeic text. On the next page, we're on the opposite side of the gate, seeing the faces of the boy and girl. The spines of street vendor's umbrella mimic the lines of the gate ("Street carts appear:/ 'Umbrellas here!'/ Tap TAP/ Tap TAP/ BOOM BOOM"). As the thunder gets louder and the storm draws closer, raindrops grow more plentiful, and paces quicken for dogs and people. "Now harder!/ Now faster!/ Big rain/ side blaster." Next, Karas shows the view from platform level, looking up the stairs at dogs and people descending the subway stairs ("Whose feet/ and knees/ are these?"). Children will embrace the anonymous cast of characters ("big, big fellow/ with tiny umbrella./ It's yellow" and "one girl/ all fancy./ She's late/ for dancing"). As they all take shelter, "The storm/ above/ makes friends/ of strangers."
The energy of people on the go stopped in their tracks by Mother Nature converts an urban landscape into a small town. A rainy day delight. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness