Debut author Dianne White describes in rhyming couplets the drama of a rainstorm. Caldecott Medalist Beth Krommes (The House in the Night) invents a visual story line about how it transforms the routine on an idyllic farm. The book opens at daybreak: "Cotton clouds./ Morning light./ Blue on blue./ White on white." Krommes's scratchboard and watercolor illustrations create layers of possibilities: a white bird in a blue sky, a blue roof on a white clapboard house with blue curtains in the window, a white sail on a blue river. A girl and her baby sibling play outside as their mother hangs laundry.

"Weather changes./ Air grows colder" accompanies a horse's eye-view from a hilltop: a farmer plows a field as his hat blows off, the pigs run for cover and, on the next page, the sailboat lists perilously. The girl and one of her two dogs hide under the covers in her room while, through the window, readers see the farmer lead the horses into the barn ("Thunder! Lightning!/ Raging, roaring"). Finally, "Winds shift./ Drops drip" and child and puppies venture out. One of the pups watches a turtle surface (children will love discovering two submerged turtles). "Muddy, muddy./ everywhere!" ushers in a wallowing party for pigs and child.

By moonrise, everyone is clean and peaceful ("Glitter stars, twinkling light./ Black on gold./ on silver night"), from the house to the barn to the sea. Krommes connects these three setting through her palette and the stars shining through them all. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness Discover: A first-time author and a Caldecott Medalist convey the transformative experience of a rainstorm.