Peter Spier, whose watercolor illustrations have so much going on inside them that you notice more with each rereading, has made several other excellent wordless stories, such as Dreams, Christmas, and Noah’s Ark. In short, they do everything there is to enjoy about a rainy day, and the reader is swept along in their excitement. Dripping wet, they return home, take a hot bath, enjoy hot chocolate and cookies, and settle down in their snug, dry beds while the storm rages outside. They slosh in puddles, turn their umbrella upside down and fill it with water, spray each other with the garden hose, stand in gutters full of rushing water, observe a cat taking shelter beneath a truck, watch the ripples and waves caused by raindrops on the pavement. In this wordless story, a brother and sister, whose sandbox play is interrupted by falling raindrops, grab their coats and umbrella and head back outside. Two siblings play outside on a rainy day. Then in several frames, for whatever reason, the boy is playing games inside and you can see his crack like a plumbers crack and the nephew was howling with laughter.

He thinks that’s the funniest thing right now. Then, when they are dressing we see a butt cheek of the boy and Nephew laughed his head off. He couldn’t believe the boy and girl bathe together and laughed at that. One of his favorite parts is after the kids come in from the rain, we see them get in the tub together for a warm bath. He’s done it a few times, but after reading this he wanted to give it a shot. He hasn’t been able to play in the rain the same way. The nephew read this to me again and he is still really good at making up a story. I long to have a garden of my own somedays. This just sets me whirling in good memories.

It’s not the best, but it gets the mood and the setting just right. I did many of the same things these kids do. The story engages my memories of childhood and days I spent playing in the rain. The children run inside and put on rain slickers and gear and then they go back out and play in the rain. Two children are playing in their back yard where there is a flourishing of nature around them and a rainstorm blows up.

Peter spier rain