BIG RAIN COMING

With the bold, dotted patterns and dark lines of Aborigine art, Bancroft (Dreamtime, 1994) takes sweltering Australian dogs, frogs, and children through days of relentless heat, then suspense, as clouds build up in the distance only to disperse, and at last the final sweet relief of rain, rain, rain. A spare text pushes the illustrations to the fore; under blazing sun or towering gray clouds the all-black silhouettes of lizards and children skitter across bare ground, drawn in undulating lines that echo those of the jeweled Rainbow Serpent gliding along beneath. The breathless heat, building anticipation, and joyful rush of release commemorate experiences universal to nearly every child, whether the setting be outback or, as in Karen Hesse’s Come On, Rain! (1999), urban. A strongly evocative import and a promising debut for Germein. (Picture book. 5-7)