Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse reads like a long, loving poem. The words are chosen with precision. The sentences flow gently off the tongue to complement (and compliment) the illustrations. What a wise choice to illustrate this story in watercolor! There are several short interview videos with illustrator Jon J Muth at Reading Rockets. The main character in this story is a young Black girl, Tessie, who perceives that a cool summer rain is about to relieve her city neighborhood of suffocating summer heat. Tessie skillfully assembles three friends for the exact moment the rain arrives. They frolic in the downpour as it passes by.
"It freckles our feet, glazes our toes.
We turn in circles,
glistening in our rain skin.
Our mouths wide,
we gulp down rain."
This story is rich with vocabulary. ideas by jivey has a 17-page Vocabulary Sample of Come On, Rain! My Picture Book Talk for this story is here.
