Product Description

As one dry day follows another in the Australian outback, everyone and everything is waiting for the rain, which seems as though it will never come. Rosie"s kids, the panting dogs, the fat green frogs, and Old Stephen all do what they can to keep cool as they watch for storm clouds on the horizon. Stunningly beautiful full-color artwork and spare text evoke the long wait during the dry season, and the jubilant relief when the long-promised rain finally arrives. Any child can identify with the theme of how hard it is to wait for something you want, and the outsize, brilliantly colored, stylized illustrations—which feature imagery from Aboriginal mythology—make this an especially striking picture book that will captivate and delight young readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78087 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This well-crafted picture book from an Australian team brings the dry and dusty reaches of the outback straight to American readers. On Sunday, Old Stephen, a white-bearded Aborigine, predicts rain, but it takes all week to arrive. With each day that passes, anticipation builds like the dark clouds on the horizon and everyone struggles to keep cool. On Monday, "The night was so warm Rosie's kids dragged their beds outside to maybe feel some breeze while they slept"; on Tuesday, dogs dig holes for shelter from the heat; and so on. Finally, on Saturday, it happensA"wonderful cool wet RAIN." A minimum of text per spread emulates the patient waiting of the people and animals in Bancroft's intricately patterned illustrations. She represents the earth with stylized swirls of brown and black and creates the billabong from a patchwork of limpid purples and greens. People appear as black silhouettes clothed in bright polka dots and stripes; lizards scamper across the foreground, and in the sky, the sun is an ever-changing orb of concentric circles and dots. Through it all runs the unifying motif of the Rainbow Serpent, an aboriginal symbol of creation closely associated with water and life, flowing in a ribbon of abstract design across the bottom of nearly every page. This evocative picture book saturates the senses as surely as rain does the parched earth. Ages 4-8. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-The rainbow serpent, an aboriginal symbol of creation in the dreamtime, winds his way across the bottom of the pages in this picture book first published in Australia. When Old Stephen sees the dark clouds spreading in the south, he knows there is a big rain coming. Each weekday passes, however, and the weather remains hot and dry. Readers are introduced to Rosie's kids, the dogs at Roberta's place, children swimming in the billabong-but still there is no rain. On Friday, thick gray clouds echo with thunder. Finally, on Saturday-"Wonderful cool wet RAIN" begins to fall. Using aboriginal motifs and bold graphics, Bancroft utilizes rich colors and thick black lines to good effect. The text is well paced with a perfect rhythm for reading aloud, and the large, clean double-page spreads make for easy viewing.
Doris Gebel, Northport-East Northport Public Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
"Big rain coming," says Old Joseph, and everyone waits, trying to stay cool through a hot, dry week in the Australian outback. The kids swim after school and sleep outdoors, the dogs bury themselves in the dirt, the frogs find leaks in the water tank, until finally on Saturday it comes: "Wonderful cool wet RAIN." More a situation than a story, this picture book's real attraction is its stunning paintings in aboriginal style. Silhouetted figures stretch across a landscape alive with rhythmic patterns: the billabong appears an almost psychedelic quilt of purple water and green lilly pads; the sun and moon are smiling, joyful, and pulsing. Most striking, though, is the band of swirling colors and totems that runs along the ground and across the pages, signifying the aboriginal belief that invisible dreaming tracks cross Earth, guiding the clans through their songs of creation. Young ones won't get the reference, but they will connect with the paintings' vibrant energy and return to look at this lovely art gallery between covers. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Lyrical Simplicity in Big Rain Coming
Big Rain Coming is the kind of picture book teachers dream about. It deals with a culture and situation unfamiliar to most of us, but these are revealed as natural background, natural characters, natural situations. The one thing Big Rain Coming does not reek of is the 'shove it down your throat' cross-cultural drudge that is found in far too many books written for young children.
Big Rain Coming tells a beautiful story with incredible lyrical simplicity.
As an author, simplicity is the hardest of all to master. Germein has done it beautifully here.
The location, the characters are wonderfully authentic and I know, because I've lived and worked in such places too.
Big Rain Coming is a wonderful book to use when teaching because all children can relate to the feeling of waiting for rain, yet they can compare many aspects of the people's lives to their own and see huge differences as well as the many similarities.
The artwork is beautiful, although I'm not a great fan of Bronwyn Bancroft's work. It is unfortunate that because she is a well-known artist, much of the acclaim for the book has been directed towards the illustrator, and not the author who created this brilliant piece of literature.
It doesn't get any better than this.