Lila and the Secret of Rain - Softcover

Conway, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847800351 ISBN 13: 9781847800350

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011

Synopsis

For months the sun has burned down on Lila's Kenyan village. It is too hot to gather firewood, too hot to weed the garden, even too hot to milk the cow. Without rain the well will run dry and the crops will fail. Lila is so worried that when her grandfather whispers to her the secret of rain, she decides to go and talk to the sky herself. How Lila saves the village by telling the sky the saddest thing she knows is told in David Conway's elegant and spare prose style, which is complemented perfectly by Jude Daly's beautiful and poignant illustrations.

About this title

About the Author:

David Conway was born in Ireland but moved to England as a baby, and has lived here ever since. He currently works at home, bringing up his daughter and son, and writing for children. His poetry has been published in many anthologies, including Loose Change in association with War on Want. David lives in North London.

Jude Daly was born in London and emigrated to South Africa as a young child. She went to art college in Cape Town, and now lives there with her husband, the writer and illustrator Niki Daly, and their two sons.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3—For weeks the burning sun has been beating down on a small village in Kenya. No one is gathering firewood and no one is milking the cows. The water well has dried up and the crops are perishing. One evening, Lila overhears her grandfather tell a story about a man who climbed to the top of a mountain and told the sky the saddest things he could think of. The sky began to cry and the much-needed rain fell. The next morning, she sets out to find a mountain and talk to the sky. The rain starts falling soon after she pours her heart out, and "each raindrop felt like one of her mama's kisses." Lila and her grandfather keep the secret of how it came to rain to themselves. This quiet story offers inspiration and hope. Readers will sigh with relief to see the rain and will cheer with the villagers as they celebrate. The illustrations are quite lovely. A huge orange sun in a brilliant blue sky dominates most pages. The prominence of the brown baked earth intensifies the unwanted result of the lack of rain. Villagers and animals alike are stick thin. This story will work well both as a read-aloud and for sharing one-on-one.—Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN
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About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1847800351
• ISBN 13: 9781847800350
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Daly Jude