illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, was an ALA Notable Children’s Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, 1977.

The rhythm and repetition present throughout the story lends itself well to early readers, as they are seeking opportunities to develop their reading and fluency skills through repeated texts. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears , also illustrated by the Dillons, was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1976 and was chosen as an ALA Notable Children’s Book, as was a third Aardema-Dillon collaboration, Behind the Back of the Mountain .This book has strong links to geography (African geography, wildlife and understanding concepts such as drought), history and exposes children to African folktales. One of the things I did this summer was think about books I read to my own children when they were little, the ones they loved and wanted to hear over and over. One can easily correlate the strength of the eagle with the strength that Ki-pat had in caring for his land. The sensory stimuli don't just support the words in telling the story, if well chosen, they tell the story in their own right.

It tells the story of a young Maasai boy named Kondi who helps bring rain to his drought-stricken village on the Kapiti Plain in Kenya. These are the cows, all hungry and dry, Who mooed for the rain to fall from the sky; To green-up the grass, all brown and dead, That needed the rain from the cloud overhead---” with each line it grows more and more building from the page before.I remember seeing this book on Reading Rainbow performed by the one man who could make it authentic as it is from darkest Africa: Mr James Earl Jones, the Afro-American actor with THAT VOICE. In fact, I ended up reading it aloud to myself and I’m looking forward to reading it to some children when I have the opportunity.

This is a fun, rhythmic tale that uses cumulative wording similar to the story, "The House that Jack Built. I love this book and I think it would spark some great discussion within a kindergarten through 2nd grade classroom. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema is a delightful rhyming story full of bright and vivid illustrations by Beatriz Vidal.A book lover myself, I strongly believe in reading to kids on a daily basis, to help them turn into mini bookworms. In reading the "About the Tale" in the back of the book, I was a little disappointed that this is not how the original story was told.

A tale of magic and tradition in a land where there has been no rain and the grass and animals are in desperate need to be replenished and fed. The poem has repetitive portions that keep building on itself again and again as the story progresses. As the big, black cloud, all heavy with rain, that shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain’ lingers in the sky ahead, who will save the day and end this draught over Kapiti Plain? I enjoyed Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain immensely, and had such fun with the rhyming narrative, that I began to read it aloud to myself. It follows the plight of the human and animal inhabitants of Nandi, who are suffering under an extended period of drought and seek to bring rain back to their village.This review was written by Alice Reedy I am a Year 3 teacher and English lead in a lovely, diverse primary school in East London. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema is a delightful rhyming story full of bright and vivid illustrations by Beatriz Vidal. In the story, Kondi goes on a journey to find the "Rain-Stone," a mystical object that is believed to have the power to bring rain.