As with many of the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out series books, Franklyn M. Branley’s Down Comes the Rain, illustrated by James Graham Hale (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Stage 2, Harper Collins, 1963/1997), interests the child reader by giving examples of simple things for children to do and try throughout. For example, it suggests activities such as dipping one’s fingers in water, letting a spoonful of water evaporate overnight, and letting the water from warm air condense on the side of a glass of ice water.
Four children explore each page, and their speech bubbles share the details that the reader is learning. They shrink to the size of a glass of water, they ride an air balloon into the clouds, and then, when the raindrops fall, they run through the drops to find a dry barn. After discussing evaporation, condensation, clouds, and precipitation, the book then discusses hail before returning to review these main concepts that have been learned.
The comforting and familiar feel of Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out books always makes me happy and this is another that does just that. Nothing spectacular makes it stand out on the pile, but the completeness of the information and the familiar format makes it a staple for learning the basics of the water cycle.
