The Rain Came Down

The Rain Came Down by David Shannon

            Picture Book—Realistic Fiction

            Grades PreK-3

            Rating: 4 Stars

            Summary:  A series of squabbles and bickering is set off when it starts raining one Saturday morning. Just when it seems like a riot will break out, the rain stops and the people enjoy the day.

            The Rain Came Down is a humorous tale of a chain of events that are all linked together in some way. As a reader, we must learn to follow this shifting perspective, and it actually becomes quite enjoyable to track how each animal or person sets off another. I can relate to this chain of ignited emotions that stem from the rain. There are days when the weather just gets to you, and I know that it can affect my mood just as it did the characters’ moods in this story. As more and more people become involved in the chaos, tension builds until it seems as though a riot will break out. Shannon uses this tension to inspire a frantic mood, which I felt building as the reader. I was growing ever more concerned that one more outburst would through the entire crowd into a tailspin and they would all lose control. The rainy weather as the catalyst for the chaos in this story can also be a metaphor. Peterson and Eeds (2007) describe a function of metaphors and say that “they abstract some of the components of life” (p. 60). This is definitely true in this story, as the rain is a metaphor for the bad days that we all experience.

            This story can serve many purposes in the classroom. First, it can provide an example of how people should treat each other, as we see in the end that the rain clears and the people engage in more pleasant interactions with one another. The chain of events would also be a great foundation upon which to discuss sequencing in stories and how events are linked and can cause new things to occur. Even if this story was just taken at its surface value, I think children will love taking in Shannon’s amazing illustrations and engaging in the tension and eventual relief that comes at the conclusion of the story.