The Rain Came Down by David Shannon

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info.: Scholastic Inc., 32 pages

Awards or Honors Received: The Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration

Summary: This is a story about some animals and several people in a town who are arguing and shouting at one another because the rain is ruining their plans. When one person acts out in anger, it affects another person, and then another person. However, when the rain stops and the sun comes out, everyone is happy again and the story recaps and shows how each character's attitude improves when the weather improves.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ****Great! This story has very vivid and funny illustrations that would appeal to young readers. It also teaches how we affect other people when we have a bad attitude about things that we cannot control.

Reading Level: 1.8

Interest Level: K-2

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum): This book would be a great one to use when working on retell and sequencing with students. A word web could be used to list characters and events in the story. This story would also be a good one to use if the focus was on problem-solution. Writing could also be integrated by students writing about something positive that they like to do on a rainy day. After writing, the teacher could write the various rainy day activities on the board and the class could do a graph to figure out their favorite rainy day activity.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: I do not see any problems or difficulties with this book.