Books like Rain!
By Christian Robinson
For the kid who finds pure joy in stomping through every puddle in sight, this book turns a gray day into a celebration. Bright, buoyant, and citified — a splashy contrast between grumbling and glee.
A small boy who lives next door to a nursing home learns that his elderly friend Miss Nancy has lost her memory, and sets out to discover what a memory actually is so he can help her find hers again.
A boy finds a penguin at his door and rows it all the way to the South Pole to return it, only to discover the penguin was never lost — just lonely.
A zookeeper spends every day visiting his animal friends — racing the tortoise, sitting with the shy penguin, reading to the owl — until he wakes up too sick to come, and they decide to visit him instead.
A wave sweeps ten rubber ducks off a cargo ship, scattering them across the sea to meet a dolphin, a whale, and other creatures, while the last little duck drifts alone until nightfall.
A shabby giant finally trades his patched-up old clothes for a smart new outfit, then gives away every piece to animals in need, one by one.
A young polar bear's fishing trip with Grampa Bear is interrupted by pesky otters, sparking a gentle conversation about why we're called to love others — even when they're hard to love.
A young boy rides the bus across town with his grandmother every Sunday, grumbling about the rain and the wait, until she helps him see the beauty and music hiding in their ordinary route.
A homeless dog living in a box in an alley writes letter after letter to every house on Butternut Street, pleading his case for a forever home.
Two children in the segregated South spot a sign for a 'colored water' fountain and imagine something magical and rainbow-bright — only to discover a far harder truth about the world around them.
A boy who wants a dog sets out to count every dog in the neighborhood, going door to door to prove to his Grandma there aren't already enough.
A tree loves a boy so completely that she gives him her apples, her branches, and finally her trunk, asking nothing in return as he grows old.
A warm, wandering list of reasons friendship matters, from knowing exactly where someone's ticklish to sticking together through pig-eating swamps and quicksand, real or imagined.
