Rain Rain Rivers

by Uri Shulevitz

It rains! It rains all over town, pattering congenially on windowpanes and rooftops. From indoors, a child watches, listens, and feels a delicious coziness. It rains on the fields, the hills, the ponds. The streams and brooks, the rivers and seas, surge and swell exuberantly. Tomorrow there will be warm mud to play in, and puddles, and in the puddles "pieces of sky." It pours.
This picture book by the winner of the 1969 Caldecott Medal is a lyrical celebration of rain's inspiring effect on Mother Nature--on human nature, too. Its few words and panoramic pictures are buoyant with growth and freshness.

Rain Rain Rivers is a 1969 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Poetry

32 pages, Paperback

Published August 8, 2006

About the author

Uri Shulevitz was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1969 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, an Eastern European fairy tale retold by Arthur Ransome in 1916.

Reviews

[Ms. B · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 to 4.75 stars. Remember when the sound of rain brought joy? If you answered no, this timeless picture book from the late 1960s will help you remember. This is the perfect book to support SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Reading this book will relax and calm us all, the young,the old and the in-between.
#springtime #puddlejumping #pitterpatter

[Edna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the text is beautifully lyrical and the storyline describing rain falling in the city is captivating, this 1969 edition with gray pen and ink drawings make it drab and not inviting for young children.

[Kalynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

No science or scientist reference, but about rain and the lives and landscapes it touches.
Feeling heavy…poetic…visually and descriptively, ends with the impact on plants…her plant.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully lyrical writing

[Kati Zuber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rain rain rivers features boy with dog, grandpa with beard, and the house with the yellow walls again. It starts off as a quiet story, which grows louder and louder.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this lyrical celebration of rain and nature, the sights and sounds of a downpour in both the city and country are highlighted.

[Skyla Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was bland. The pictures and all are boring. The book talks about rain and it making its way to different areas in the world.

[Jade Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that it was a good book for k-3. I felt as if the pictures in the book were a bit gloomy but it goes along with the book because rain can be a bit gloomy. Overall a good book for children.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the comfort of an attic bedroom a girl and her cat contemplate the rain outside the window. The girl watches it rushing down the eaves, gushing out the drainpipes and thinks of the puddles that she can sail her toy boats in tomorrow. She imagines it raining on hills and fields far from her city home and collecting in rills, and brooks and rushing into the sea. “Oceans are swelling, Melting the skies.” She anticipates the joy of playing in the puddles with her friends. “We’ll run barefoot in puddles and stamp in warm mud. I’ll jump over pieces of sky in the gutter.” Her lyrical contemplation is illustrated in a muted palette of blue, yellow, and green over black ink.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I am a huge fan of Uri Shulevitzbook Snow, I was eager to take a look at this reissue of an older title. And I was not disappointed. My favorite two-page spread has ocean waves with this text: "Waves billow and roll. Rush, splash and surge. Rage, Roar and rise." Beautiful!

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:
compares rain in city to rain in country -- all starts small and ends up in rivers; art is outdated due to old-fashioned print techniques -- would love to see an updated version! the kids really liked this

[Kristin]

Wonderful drawings. Sweet story. As Pacific Northwesterners who balk at the sun, my daughter and I love it.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple prose and brooding illustrations really convey he since of rain and grayness. A wonderful book for small children's setting on a rainy day...great for the classroom.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful. Simple. Focused on rain and the water cycle in some capacity. Wonderful.

[Buxmont Uu]

CMMW 26