Welcome, Rain!

Welcome, Rain! captures the love/hate relationship many of us have with the weather. In this book, a young child plays in the rain and details the many things she likes about it: she likes that birds can get worms, she likes splashing in muddy puddles, and she likes that the rain helps nourish her Gran’s garden. But the rain continues unabated, and the child tires of it: the creeks and lakes get full, the birds can’t get warm, and the thunder scares her dog. Eventually, the rain stops and the hot weather resumes. The girl takes advantage of the sunshine, riding her scooter, running through her Gran’s sprinkler, and eating watermelon. But, like the rain, the heat overstays its welcome, and the girl complains that “it’s too hot for sidewalk chalk or catching frogs….and it’s way too sweaty at night to sleep.” She wishes for rain again; the rain returns, she rejoices, until that is, she’s ready for the rain to turn to snow.

With the story’s first-person narration, McFarlane does a great job of capturing the often finicky relationship we have with the weather: wanting rain or sunshine only until we’ve had our fill. Despite the often bleak view many of us have of the rain, the narrative encourages outside play regardless of the weather. The poetic text is lovely, containing beautiful descriptions of the rain from its “bedtime pitter-patter lullaby” to its “fresh happy smell”, and there’s plenty of great vocabulary words for readers to chew on. As the narrative moves between rain, sun, and then rain again, it can feel like deja vu, but thus is the cycle of weather.

The mixed-media illustrations are colourful and cheerful, ranging from two-page spreads on full-colour backgrounds to smaller vignettes on white backgrounds. The illustrations are largely flat, relying on colour and pattern to create texture and depth.

Welcome, Rain! is a cute and conventional picture book celebrating and bemoaning the weather.