Published by Clarion Books

Summary:  “Dreary. Weary. Dim. Grim. Drip. Drop. Nonstop.”  From the looks of things on the first pages, the rainy weather has been around for way too long.  But rain or shine, dogs gotta go, and so a girl takes her pup out for a walk in the rain.  When thunder booms, a curio shop provides them with some shelter, and they find a free, albeit tattered, yellow umbrella there.  On the walk home, though, the umbrella disintegrates with a crumble and a tumble, strewing yellow pieces in the grass along the sidewalk.  The rain continues through the night, and when the girl and dog go for another walk, they make a surprising discovery–new yellow umbrellas have sprouted wherever the pieces of the old one fell!  Before long, the whole town is outside celebrating with their sunny new umbrellas despite the rain.  48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  I will definitely be reading this book to some of my preschool and kindergarten classes, maybe pairing it with Stick and Stone by the same author and illustrator.  The umbrella garden was such a fun surprise, complemented by the gray illustrations with their bright spots of yellow.

Cons:  There have been a few weeks this summer that felt like the first few pages of this book.