Let's Go Puddling!

by Emma Perry, Claire Alexander (Illustrator)

Overview

Grab a raincoat, pull on some boots, and head out the door for a joyful celebration of splish-sploshing in puddles. Squelch!

Clouds gather,
skies darken,
rain falls,
puddles appear.

Yippee! Here comes the rain! Three families meet up in front of their high-rise apartment building, all with the same idea. The children can’t wait to stimp-stamp-stomp through the muddy puddles until their boots overflow—then snuggle with the grown-ups on the couch as their soggy socks dry. Emma Perry’s buoyant text summons the thrill of being outdoors regardless of the weather, while Claire Alexander’s lively watercolors capture the children’s exuberant play amid the splashing drops.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536228496
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/25/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	113,903
Product dimensions:	9.13(w) x 11.31(h) x 0.34(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Emma Perry is a children’s book author and a primary school teacher. She is also the founder of the children’s book review site My Book Corner and runs International Book Giving Day. Her picture books include I Don’t Like Books. Never. Ever. The End., illustrated by Sharon Davey, and This Book Has Alpacas and Bears, illustrated by Rikin Parekhi. Emma Perry lives in Bath, England, with her husband, two children, and two cats.

Claire Alexander is the author-illustrator of The Think-Ups! and A Little Bit Different and the illustrator of Humperdink Our Elephant Friend and The Snowbear, both written by Sean Taylor. Claire Alexander teaches classes on picture book writing and illustration online and at the House of Illustration in London. She lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

02/20/2023

Three families with young children, portrayed with various skin tones, look out their windows as rain begins to fall in this picture book; it’s time to go “puddling.” Adult caregivers help the preschoolers into raincoats and boots so they can splash in puddles together at a nearby playground. While the grown-ups talk under umbrellas, the children hug, jump, and laugh. Perry (This Book Has Alpacas and Bears) writes simple, telegraphic lines full of noise and action: “Stimp,/ stamp,/ stomp!// Umbrellas fly,/ coats flap.” External rain-day events add to the experience: a dog shakes itself off, and a drenched cyclist pedals by, creating a “SPLAAASH!” In digital artwork with a watercolor feel, Alexander (The Think-Ups) pays attention to the dramatic sloshes and sprays the children make, until a “humongous” puddle soaks boots, and it’s time to go in. Rather than wishing the rain away, these young protagonists find that outside amid the elements is a fine place to play, especially when accompanied by clothes that keep them dry, despite the downpour. It’s a child-led adventure with a community focus that ends with everyone warm and dry: “Let’s all.../ SNUGGLE!” Ages 2–5. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

This book delivers frolicking tots gamboling in said puddles—there’s mud, too—and offers up examples of delicious onomatopoeic words readers and listeners will delight in repeating as they mimic the kids’ activities. . . . This exuberant British import, written in staccatolike prose emulating the rapid patter of raindrops, is a rainy-day winner. The colorful, energetic digital illustrations appropriately resemble watercolors. . . . Jump right into this joyful charmer.
—Kirkus Reviews

Rather than wishing the rain away, these young protagonists find that outside amid the elements is a fine place to play, especially when accompanied by clothes that keep them dry, despite the downpour. It’s a child-led adventure with a community focus that ends with everyone warm and dry.
—Publishers Weekly

Engaging illustrations, created digitally, show the enthusiasm and joy the children—dressed in vivid orange, royal blue, and pink jackets along with colorful boots—feel as they jump in puddles and run amok. Their antics brighten up the dreary, wet day established in the front endpapers, bolstered by sound effects sprinkled throughout the text. . . a great selection for beginning readers. Readers will get a kick out of watching, and perhaps envying, the children acting like children and getting wet and muddy to their hearts’ desire.
—Booklist

Alexander’s digital watercolor illustrations make a splash in Perry’s picture book full of outdoor rainy entertainment. . . . Caretakers and children will want to grab a warm drink and get comfy on the couch to read this on a rainy day.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Emma Perry’s ode to puddle-jumping youngsters is nothing less than joyful.
—The Virginian Pilot

From the Publisher

2023-01-25
Rainy days equal fun!

It’s raining, it’s pouring. What better time for doting parents, neighbors in an apartment building, to take their kids outside? Suiting up their toddlers and infant appropriately in brightly hued rain gear and galoshes, they step outdoors and, with the babe in a stroller, watch their children gleefully greet each other and take off. There are PUDDLES to jump in! Even a pet dog gets involved. This book delivers frolicking tots gamboling in said puddles—there’s mud, too—and offers up examples of delicious onomatopoeic words readers and listeners will delight in repeating as they mimic the kids’ activities. (Savvy grown-ups will provide children opportunities to display their puddle-jumping prowess.) A few from the text to savor that simply drip with squishy “wet” sounds are set in oversized type, e.g., “Squish! Squash! Squelch!” When the puddle jumpers are thoroughly soggy, it’s time to return home, remove wet togs, and have a snuggle. Then, to top off the day, just when you thought nature couldn’t produce a better show, a gorgeous multicolored arc appears in the sky. This exuberant British import, written in staccatolike prose emulating the rapid patter of raindrops, is a rainy-day winner. The colorful, energetic digital illustrations appropriately resemble watercolors. One of the families is brown-skinned, another is White-presenting, and the other includes a tan-skinned parent and lighter-skinned child. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Jump right into this joyful charmer. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews