PITTER, PATTER, GOES THE RAIN

An onomatopoeic celebration of rain, translated from Dutch.

A light-skinned youngster and a canine pal peer out the window at the rain. They rush to don universal rain gear (yellow slicker and red boots—even for the dog) and run outside. The duo sees many creatures large and small on their adventure. Lindsten peppers the landscape with smiling trees, tiny snoozing birds, and lines of rain splashing down. Alas, while there are playful word strings that are immensely fun to recite—“splish, splash, splish, splash” or “squish, squash, squish, squash”—there are more than a few scansion stumbles in the rhyming text. Some stanzas get mired in too much detail: “Pitter, patter, pitter, patter, / swallows flying low, / excitingly swooping for flies, / while rabbits shelter in the burrow.” Others are just clunky: “Flip, flap, flip flap, / big bird trying to catch a worm. / Dog jumps, bird drops worm / with a squirm.” The narrative’s focus zooms in on ladybugs, ants, caterpillars, and more and how the rain affects them, which is an appreciated angle. However, the text mentions “happy slugs,” but the corresponding illustrations show snails. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.4-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 43.6% of actual size.)

There are better rainy-day romps to be had.