All I want for Christmas is Rain is so obviously an Australian story. We have Christmas in the Summer. Australia is one of the driest continents. Our farmers have to cope with such weather extremes - drought, flood, fire but eventually rain does come and the landscape revives. This book is a celebration of the renewal and relief rain can bring. The CBCA have selected this book for the Early Childhood award short list.
The text is told as a rhyme :
My mission was clear - I had hatched a great plan:
I would ask for help from the great bearded man.
I love the perspective in the illustration where we see Jane talking with Santa. She looks so small yet so self assured. Santa looks huge but somehow also soft like a pillow. Make sure you show a class the end papers. Brown at the beginning and green at the end - a celebration of the change wrought by rain. The illustrations are the real strength of this book.
When rain does come on Christmas morning the presents can wait. It is time for the whole family to run outside and dance.
Cori Brooke and Megan Forward both have web sites worth exploring. Perhaps not coincidentally they both live in Queensland. Cori has had two books published and Megan has three. You can watch a video of Megan and Cori talking about the way they approached this book. You might like to read this review.
We will also look at some other fabulous books about rain.
When you read this book with a class it would be good to compare the illustrations and story line with two other Australian books on the same theme of rain at Christmas time.
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