Customer Reviews

The Rainbabies

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3 star:		(1)
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This is a wonderfully written book. A gorgeous story with beautiful illustrations. I gave this book as a gift to a friend of mine going through IVF. She loved the story of the Rainbabies and Mother Moonshower.

The Rainbabies is a delightful book about an older couple that have everything but the one thing that they desire more than anything in the world, a child. One night after a rainstorm, they find twelve little babies in the grass and they take such wonderful care of them. So much so that Mother moonshower comes and gives them a "real" daughter of their own. They feel complete and full of love.

I couldn't stop crying the first time I read this book. I have had cancer and because of my chemo was told that I may never have children. It hit home to know that you can have everything in the world, but feel like you have nothing if you don't have the love of a child. At first I felt robbed of this love. But I also understand that there must be a reason why. This is still my favorite book to pull out and read when I'm feeling a little bit lonely.

This story is tender and sweet. You'll love it with all your heart.

The Rainbabies reads like a classical fairy tale, with the all the heft of a cross-generational standard. But you haven't heard this story before, and the setting is quietly and peacefully timely and contemporary. Illustrator Jim Lamarche makes this point with frequent visual references to the present, yet his fluid style, reminscent at times of the great master N.C. Wyeth, not only enhances the narrative, but ensures its classic feel. There is no tragedy here, only magic, and I was as entranced by the story were as my eight and six-year-old daughters. An aging couple, content in all respects except for their childlessness, find twelve tiny babies in the grass following a moonshower. They take the babies in and raise them carefully, rising to the challenge of several near-disasters that threaten the lives of their young charges. Their devotion to the children is palpable, and this helps to calm the reader's vague sense of unease over the cause of the tiny infants' frequent peril. Surely everything will be all right. Or will it? It's a neat twist. You're not sure where this is going, and the hint of impending doom (as if Lamarche's illustrations are not enough) creates a gem of a page-turner. Finally, the old man and woman are rewarded for their single-minded commitment, and the happily-ever-after denouement settles over the last page like a warm smile. Lamarche's closing illustration is a memorable image, a fairy tale in itself, a picure of such contentment that only the most jaded reader will fail to grow wistful for simpler times and simpler pleasures. The Rainbabies is a keeper -- a curl-up-in-the-chair-with-the-kids kind of book that is likely to grow worn and dog-eared from long and frequent use.

I bought Rainbabies initially for the illustrations. I was in a hurry to pick a couple books out and it was beautiful. Imagine my suprise and delight when I got to the end and you discover that the babies were actually sent to earth by The Goddess! (Portrayed as a beautiful silver maiden wearing a moonstone necklace). For my son, age 3, this gave a lovely and nurturing image of Her that he can conjure whenever She is mentioned. (Which is alot in our home!)If you like this one you also might try Nicola's Grapes (I am unsure of the Author)...Blessed Be! Moss

This heartwarming story begins in a plain enough fashion. An older couple live a lively and productive farm life, but long for children they cannot have.

Then the magic begins. One March night, rain pattering on their roof arouses the woman. "Wake up, old man, I've heard the moonshower brings good fortune to everyone it touches!" They go out and stand in the rain. There, in the grass and wildflowers are shining drops of water, each holding a baby.

The couple care diligently for their found little poems. They carry their babies in a willow basket while they do their chores, saving them from several near-disasters--a sudden storm, a weasel, and lightening-set fire. The babies sleep in a dresser drawer, covered gently by a scarf.

One night a man arrives, placing on their table a basket of silvery twigs filled with tiny pearls. He offers them an enormous jewel for their babies. "Thank you," says the woman, "but the babies will stay with us." The man transforms into Mother Moonshower, who must take her babies home. "You musn't," cries the woman. The woman kisses her sleeping rainbabies goodbye and they disappear.

But not before Mother Moonshower gives them, in the rainbabies' place, an infant girl. Rayna grows stronger and more lovely each year, and the couple feel their happiness complete.

Few if any children were ever adopted this way. But those adopted more normally adore this story, which helps them see how love alone makes families real. The tale also makes them comfortable with their own magical difference. Alyssa A. Lappen

I didn't realize till later, that the rainbabies represent the months of the year, which is why their mother is the moon mother. The moon creates the months of the year. And also why there are 12 of them, one to represent each month of the year. They never really left the elderly couple, they just bacame something else. At least this is what I tell my granddaughter when we are through reading the book.

I didn't look at this as an adoption book but more of a babysitting book. It respected the deep bond of the true mother of the rainbabies, and it was right for them to return to her. I look at this as a way to confirm that when my child goes out in the world, she can always come home to me, because my relationship to her is a sacred one. And when we watch over the children of others, it is our responsibility to protect them as if they were our own. I'm glad to find a book that supports this value, because I see it so lacking in the opinions of so many caretakers of other people's children. Every child is sacred, regardless of whether it is your own, or someone elses, and we have a responsibility to look out for all children. That is a sacred responsibility.

This theme has been coming up a lot in my granddaughter's play, since reading this story to her. So I bought 12 of the smallest little baby dolls I could find and made little felt blankets for each one, and my granddaughter has her dolls "babysit" them until the Moonmother can come to get them.

I really enjoyed this book.. and i'm in high school.. :o) the illustrations are awesome along with the story. it's the type of book that makes you want to give someone a hug afterwards. i like reading this book to my younger syblings.. it is a great book.. comes highly recommended.

Rainbabies, written by Laura Krauss Melmed, is a fascinating book with a wonderful fantasy story. In this emotional book, an elderly couple always wanted a child of their own, but were very unfortunate. One rainy day, when they went outside hoping that the rain would bring them good fortune, they found twelve small babies. Along with this, came a series of disasters. The elderly couple proved their loyalty watching and caring for the rainbabies, and received an award of their own. This book races through many feelings such as sad, happy, excited, and when it is over you love how it turned out. Although it is a picture book, I would recommend it for all ages. From the questionable start to the happy ending, this book is worth taking time out to read.

This is a book that will touch children of all ages. An older couple wish for a child. The rainbabies are sent to them from above. The couple are tested beyond the limits one might imagine parents to possess. In the end they become the parents of the rainbabies. An especially beautiful tale for people considering adoption.

After trying for a number of years to have a child we were finally blessed to be able to adopt a beautiful baby girl. A friend gave us "The Rainbabies" and it touched us deeply. We could relate to how cherished children can be after the trial of waiting and wanting. The illustrations were perfect for the beautiful, plainly written story .

"The Rainbabies" is a modern day fairy tale for adults. Figuratively speaking, that is. Not only that, but the tale it holds should be the prerequisite that must be met before a person is allowed to have a baby.

The story: An older couple, maybe in their forties, fifties, live on the banks of a lovely river. All's right in their world except for the hollow in their lives left by no babies. Then one night--as stories like this go--the woman gets her husband up in the middle of the night to go outside to stand in the magical rains of moon glow.

Sure enough, the magic materializes. There in a a tiny light on the ground--after the rains stop--are twelve perfect babies the size of a person's thumb. They gather up these babies and take them home where they begin a new life filled with joy and happiness and radiance!

By the time the reader reaches the last page, he/she learns that the couple is being tested--three times!--to prove their worthiness in having a baby. A spoiler in a review for a children's book is a non sequitur. A person intending to buy a children's book actually NEEDS to know the content before buying and then reading that book to a child. So, I say, the couple is put to the test.

Then one night a strange person in a cloak comes to test the couple once again. This time the test is monetary, but again, they pass. What is behind all the mystery is the "mother" of the rain babies, who has come to claim them. In their place--remember that the couple has proven worthiness--is a real, perfectly beautiful human baby, who, in her turn, gives them great joy--and a touch of mischief and naughtiness as only real babies can.

Although small children ooh and ahh over the rain babies, I'm not sure they understand the testing that goes on. Do I, as their librarian and storyteller, tell them? No, I don't. Maybe I am reading too much into the story, but I'm think my interpretation is juuuuust right.

In addition to the story, the illustrations are essential in "illuminating" the beauty of the babies, the setting, but most importantly the souls of this particular couple. The cover illustration demonstrates my point.

Note: Editorial comment to follow...

If only this story were true and couples could be tested before being allowed a baby, perhaps the world would be a better place. And children would be safer and happier and wouldn't become distrustful of a legal system that follows the ruling that children are best off with their parents.