Amazon.com Review
As the red soil of the African savanna becomes parched and cracked, the porcupine SMELLS the rain coming. She tells the zebras, who SEE the rain coming and gallop off to tell the baboons. The baboons HEAR the rain coming. The rhino FEELS it. And the lion TASTES the rain. All the animals use their senses to predict the change of weather. Soon, the sky opens and it rains and rains and rains until every river gushes and gurgles. When it stops, green buds and grasses sprout and the animals find shelter in the shade of the big leaves and the cool, squelchy mud and relish the "fresh, juicy fruit from the trees" and long, refreshing drinks from the water hole.
Manya Stojic's exuberant picture book celebrates nature's sometimes extreme but always magical methods in madness. From scorching drought to frenzied rainfall and back again, all the animals live in harmony with this natural cycle. Stojic's artwork is stunning--lush golds, fiery red-oranges, cool, wet blues, and brilliant greens burst off the pages, while the soft grays, blacks, and browns of the savanna creatures, with their visible brush strokes, seem to come alive before our very eyes. Rain is as golden, vibrant, and palpably refreshing as Flora McDonnell's Splash!--another wonderful picture book about delicious, delicious water. (Ages 3 and older) --Emilie Coulter
From Publishers Weekly
"It was hot," announces Stojic in big, bold type at the opening of her handsome debut book. Indeed, the scorching savanna temperatures radiate from her abstract compositions, and the cracked soil and yellowed grasslands glow as if ignited by the sun. But the animals know that this weather cannot last forever: they variously smell, hear, see, feel or taste the approach of rain. The rain, greatly savored, eventually stops, but the animals continue to appreciate it: "We can't hear the rain now," shout the baboons, "but we can eat fresh, juicy fruit from the trees." The language is only serviceable, but the freshness of the art compensates. Stojic brings a deliciously heightened sensuality to her interpretation of savanna life. Tightly and often unconventionally framing her full-bleed, double-page spreads, she approximates a range of sensations, from the pleasure of the downpour (visualized as a spread of broad blue brush strokes) t0 the cozy ooze of the rhino's chocolate-colored mud hole to the mouthwatering lusciousness of the baboons' orange fruit. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
