The Rain Came Down

Title: The Rain Came Down
Author: David Shannon
Illustrator: David Shannon
Publisher: Blue Sky Press, 2000
Genre: Picture book/Humor
Age Range:K-3

Summary:One Saturday morning it started to rain which first made the chicken’s squawk and after that ciaos just broke loose in the household. The dog was barking, the baby was crying, the mom was shouting. Then the policeman stopped by to see what all the commotion was about and then started the town in ciaos with cars honking, people yelling and arguing, things falling, people bumping into each other; until, the rain stopped. After the rain had stopped people were getting along, cars went on their way, the children got ice cream, and the family even went on a picnic all together mom, dad, baby, dog, cat, and chickens!

Response: I really liked this book. And once again the illustration was great. I really liked how this book could be used with a little bit older kids who have started to read full sentences. The book is very clean looking because the writing is at the bottom on all the pages and the pictures on top. This book makes me really want to know what his art media type is. The characters are cartoony but so life like I really like the way he can make the appearance that things are shiny. I am not real sure why I just think it makes it look more life like and funny. Also once the ciaos in town starts I really liked how on each page the people who were arguing were all similar. For example the beautician was arguing with the barber, the baker arguing with the pizza maker, and the little girl was arguing with the boy. It made the story even sillier.

Teaching Ideas: In the standard course of study for kindergarten one of the objectives is to identify different weather features including precipitation, wind, temperature and cloud cover. This would be a great book to spark a conversation and a lesson on weather. It's funny with wonderful illustrations so would be a great way to begin a lesson! Another lesson that could come of this book is being able to relate to situations, you could discuss how weather makes you feel.