Come on, Rain by Karen Hesse, recommended for ages four to eight years

A delightful, lyrical story about a child's willing the rain to fall. It's been three weeks and not a drop of rain. The plants and flowers are drooping, the girls and their mothers are scorched and panting and the little protagonist, Tessie, urges the rain to come down on them. But before it does, she gathers up her girlfriends, cajoles her mamma into letting her slip on her bathing suit and when the rain does greet them, they are all ready to dance and celebrate with it. With an infectious tone, the reader enjoys the joy and jubilance under the rain's generous downpour!

There is a melodic beat resonating through the story - 'Jackie-Joyce chases Rosemary who chases Liz who chases me.....we make such a racket, Miz Glick rushes out on her porch, Miz Grace and Miz Vera come next, and then comes Mamma. They run from their kitchens and skid to a stop'. 

What is going to happen after this pause? Are the girls going to be scolded by their mothers and told to get their wet, soaking selves back inside? No, the music starts again, drop by drop by drop, till everyone is wet and under the enchanting rain.

'Come On, Rain!' also presents a close relationship between mother and daughter, a close bond between four friends and a little community of women who all feel new and fresh after the rain. Karen Hesse achieves this with sparse text, well chosen words and direct speech, using the protagonist Tessie to unite the jumble of women.

A good book to introduce your child to the trending topic of climate change, extreme weather conditions and how they affect your surroundings and feelings.

Also recommended for those who like reading aloud to their children - this book is poetic, melodic, at times a little wordy, but the descriptions and the sparse-like style of the illustrations all add to the mystery of the sudden summer rain and the enchanting dance it creates.

'It streams through our hair and down our backs.

It freckles our feet, glazes our toes.

We turn in circles,

glistening in our rain skin.

our mouths wide,

we gulp down rain' (Extract from Come On, Rain)