• Age: 2 to 6
• Grade: p to 2

We all love rain—until we are ready for some sun! This joyful ode to rain for kids 2 to 6 explores a child's many emotions when it comes to wet weather.

In this charming picture book, a young child’s conversation with the rain poetically captures the ever-shifting feelings we have when it comes to drizzles and downpours. She thanks the rain for helping the strawberries and carrot seeds to grow, and delights in splashing in the puddles with her little brother. Then, she asks the rain if it could take a vacation so she can play in the park and go lightning fast on her scooter. Eventually, it’s too hot for sidewalk chalk and catching frogs, and she begins to miss it.

Welcome, Rain! encourages kids to:

• Get outside to explore and play, even in the rain
• Understand why rain is important, from helping plants grow to bringing cooler temperatures

Cycling through the four seasons, this adorable picture book is a celebration of our feelings for the rain—how we wish it would go away, then long for it when it’s gone—and the necessary role it plays in our lives.

Sheryl McFarlane was born in the Ottawa Valley and was raised in Arizona, but the west coast snatched her heart more than thirty years ago. She is the mother of three wonderful daughters who often appear in her books in disguised form. She is the author of four board books and eight picture books, including: A Pod of Orcas, This is the Dog, Jessie's Island and Waiting for the Whales.
Sheryl's books have won and been short-listed for several readers' choice awards, the Governor General's Award, the IODE Award, the BC Book Prize for Children's Literature, and the Mr. Christie Award. Sheryl has toured with the Peter Gzowski Golf Tournament for Literacy, Save the Children, and The Canada Council. She has judged creative writing for The Writer's Union of Canada, The Canadian Children's Book Centre, and the BC Creative Writers' Grant Program, been a writer in residence in many schools, been involved in many young author programs, and has led children's writing workshops for beginning and established writers.
A former teacher, Sheryl provides professional development in language arts for school districts, Early Childhood Educators, Primary Educator Associations and the International Reading Association. She frequently acts as a consultant for publishers on both educational and trade projects. Her first young adult novel was published in the fall of 2006.

Sheryl McFarlane's profile page

Christine Wei is a Taiwanese artist living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in Vancouver, BC. She graduated from Emily Carr University of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Major in Illustration. Christine's work often draws inspiration from sentiment, life stories, and nature-inspired mark-makings. She loves creating art with a variety of mediums to convey relatable narratives in dynamic perspectives.

Christine Wei's profile page

"Children everywhere will identify with the different experiences that rain (or no rain) brings. . .A joyful and nuanced take on a popular subject."
—Kirkus Review