Overview
Get out your umbrellas!
Children play, birds call, and grownups go about their business during the hot days of summer in northern India. But in the bustle of street and marketplace, everyone is watching, waiting for those magical clouds to bring their gift of rain to the land. Through the observations of one young girl, the scents and sounds, the dazzling colors, and the breathless anticipation of a parched cityscape are vividly evoked during the final days before the welcome arrival of the monsoon.
Rhythmic prose and vivid chalk pastels flood the senses and take the reader on a tour of diverse urban India.
A child describes waiting for the monsoon rains to arrive and the worry that they will not come.
Synopsis
Get out your umbrellas!
Children play, birds call, and grownups go about their business during the hot days of summer in northern India. But in the bustle of street and marketplace, everyone is watching, waiting for those magical clouds to bring their gift of rain to the land. Through the observations of one young girl, the scents and sounds, the dazzling colors, and the breathless anticipation of a parched cityscape are vividly evoked during the final days before the welcome arrival of the monsoon.
Rhythmic prose and vivid chalk pastels flood the senses and take the reader on a tour of diverse urban India.
Publishers Weekly
Krishnaswami (Chachaji's Cup) offers a lyrical slice-of-life story about contemporary India on the eve of the monsoon season. Walking through crowded city streets, the girl narrator absorbs her mother's worries about the rain. "How much will it rain? How fast, how hard?" And another question hangs in her mind, much like the "cry of the crows in the old neem tree/ hangs in the dust-pink air"-what if the rains never come? The author evokes the oppressive weather in tense images: the heat makes the girl feel "like a crocodile/ crouching snap-jawed"; "hot loo winds tear through the city./ They rip the paper off billboards/ and shred the smiles of movie stars." Readers experience the sights and sounds of another culture as the girl and her brother play hopscotch to the sound of temple bells "clanging, clanging," and a taxi driver honks futilely at the tired old cow who stubbornly blocks his path in the street. Debut illustrator Akib suggests the heaviness of the air in the thick strokes and hazy palette of his stylized, almost dreamlike illustrations, capturing the bustle of the streets with slightly off-kilter perspectives. American readers will enjoy the exotic clothing and customs (when it rains, the adults offer coins to "potbellied Ganesh, god of beginnings"), all the more so because they will recognize the girl's feelings as very much like their own. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Richly colored illustrations and lyrical text...An expressive story about seasons, extremes, and waiting." -Kirkus Reviews"A welcome glimpse into another culture and climate." —Booklist
Publishers Weekly
Krishnaswami (Chachaji's Cup) offers a lyrical slice-of-life story about contemporary India on the eve of the monsoon season. Walking through crowded city streets, the girl narrator absorbs her mother's worries about the rain. "How much will it rain? How fast, how hard?" And another question hangs in her mind, much like the "cry of the crows in the old neem tree/ hangs in the dust-pink air"-what if the rains never come? The author evokes the oppressive weather in tense images: the heat makes the girl feel "like a crocodile/ crouching snap-jawed"; "hot loo winds tear through the city./ They rip the paper off billboards/ and shred the smiles of movie stars." Readers experience the sights and sounds of another culture as the girl and her brother play hopscotch to the sound of temple bells "clanging, clanging," and a taxi driver honks futilely at the tired old cow who stubbornly blocks his path in the street. Debut illustrator Akib suggests the heaviness of the air in the thick strokes and hazy palette of his stylized, almost dreamlike illustrations, capturing the bustle of the streets with slightly off-kilter perspectives. American readers will enjoy the exotic clothing and customs (when it rains, the adults offer coins to "potbellied Ganesh, god of beginnings"), all the more so because they will recognize the girl's feelings as very much like their own. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
The dust will be washed away when the yearly monsoon rains arrive, but until then, heat, wind, worry and doubt prevail. Waiting for rain and recognizing one's powerlessness against the vagaries of weather is a universal pastime, shown in this story from the perspective of a young Indian girl. "Old and young, poor and rich, all across India, we wait for rain," she narrates. Readers will relate to the children in this story, who are like children everywhere as they watch TV and play hopscotch in the alley. But the story also celebrates the characters' distinct culture, one where tea is served from open-air stalls and taxi drivers must steer clear of cows in the street. The sights, sounds and smells of anticipation are captured in a dense, earthy poetry that is anchored with clear, easily conjured images: "Hot loo winds...rip the paper off billboards and shred the smiles of movie stars." Most impressive are the illustrations, almost as saturated in color and detail as an Indian city street itself. A muddy color palate beautifully reflects a landscape withering under relentless dry heat. Younger children will enjoy listening and looking at this book, but it has a subtle complexity that makes it even more appropriate for older ones. A one-page addendum at the end of the book explains both the science and the mythology of the monsoon in greater detail. 2003, Farrar Straus Giroux, Ages 5 to 12.— Diane Frook