PUDDLE

When a child's mood is dampened by a rainy day, Mom comes to the rescue using her imagination, some crayons, and praiseworthy redirection.

“I hate rainy days.” Readers are thus introduced to a cross-armed, brow-furrowed pug of a child. Contrariness oozes across the page, infecting both the dog and the cat. Mom has a suggestion. “Do you want to draw?” “NO. I don’t want to. I’ll never draw!” Truly, the bad weather has ruined the day. With patience and cleverness, Mom begins to draw nonetheless, teasing out a bit of curiosity. The illustrations switch from depicting the scene to displaying the images mother and child are drawing together on the pad. With clever use of conversation, creativity, and crayons, Yum provides a parenting primer on redirection. “Why don’t you draw the rain?” Mom asks. The child’s little hand draws blue streaks across the paper. The rain becomes a downpour, making puddles on the ground. By drawing this soggy adventure, the young child can imagine the deluge. The joy of splashing in the rain could not even be imagined at the outset. Only through practicing the idea of rainy-day fun does the child start to view the real situation differently.

Yum deftly ties moods, weather, parenting, and the power of art together.