Who Likes Rain?:
2008 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
"This delightful story is the perfect panacea for the rainy-day blues and, in turn, creates its own bright spot." —Publishers Weekly
Tracks in the Snow:
Junior Library Guild Selection
Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Selection
The easy, unforced rhymes may appeal to adult reader and child viewer alike, while the contrast between the fallen snow and the warm tones of flesh and covering sets up a delightful balancing act....TRACKS IN THE SNOW lays down a trail well worth following. —The New York Times Book Review
The simple rhyming text encourages chanting along; Yee's colored pencil illustrations are meticulously drawn...providing a quiet softness for this gentle, cozy winter tale. —Horn Book
A tender celebration of the season. —School Library Journal
"Readers will feel all the invigorating chill and quiet beauty of winter." —Publishers Weekly
Fireman Small:
This short, simple story will delight children with its action, rhyme, and sprightly illustrations. Yee's colorful watercolors depict the animal inhabitants of the cozy town as warm, friendly, and concerned for one another's welfare. —Booklist
To the child who is stuck indoors at the mercy of Mother Nature, rain doesn't appear to be all that wonderful. But to the imaginative girl at the heart of this tale, it's a source of wonderment and the key to unearthing a soggy world where creatures thrive in wet weather. The delicate phrases of Yee's (Upstairs Mouse, Downstairs Mole) loose, lyric verse recall the pitter patter of raindrops ("Who likes rain?/ Not Papa's old truck./ Who likes rain?/ Quack, quack.... It's a duck!"). But as the girl soon discovers, rain can also command a more demonstrative presence ("Pitty-plip-PLOP, Pitty-pat-SPLAT!/ I can catch raindrops in my hat"). His gorgeously textured colored pencil illustrations build on this liveliness, from the drain spout gushing a torrent of water and leaves, to the girl (in her bright yellow slicker) chasing her wayward umbrella across a field. As she explores the wet world around her, readers too learn that while rain may be a deterrent for some, it serves a purpose for the quacking duck or the frog that frolics in the "muckety-muck." And when the rain finally ceases, the girl finds a way to embrace its remains. This delightful story is the perfect panacea for the rainy-day blues and, in turn, creates its own bright spot. Ages 2-6. (Apr.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
PreS-Gr 1
A young Asian girl muses about an early spring rain and how various animals and things are affected, playing a guessing game with readers and expressing her own delight in puddle jumping. Told in lilting rhyme-"Raindrops falling/Down in spring./Hit the awning,/ping-ping-ping !"-it's a perfect read-aloud for preschoolers and simple enough for beginning readers. Soft, gentle illustrations in acrylics capture the child's joy and make readers almost feel the pelting rain. A lovely choice for spring storytimes.
Sally R. DowCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Young kids who don't already appreciate rain may change their minds after experiencing this small picture book that exuberantly pours on, in verse, the watery delights of a rainy day in April. Yee's impressionistic paintings and the subtle nature lessons are as gentle and soft as a spring shower. Youngsters will enjoy the onomatopoetic sounds of the rainfall and have fun answering the riddles posed here, too. Who likes rain? Why, a host of creatures, though Yee reminds us that cats, dogs and even "Papa's old truck" can well do without it. Of course, at the end, if children won't have already caught on, it seems as if it's the little girl herein who likes rain the most-with or without her bright raingear. Sweet. (Picture book. 2-6)