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Summary
Summary
Get to know the "rain fish" that come to life during rainstorms in this gorgeous exploration of nature with vibrant collage artwork from the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom .
When blue sky turns gray and it rains all day, sometimes rain fish come out and play.
They swim among discards and debris. Do you see them, too? Or is it just me?
Through lyrical text and her incomparable mixed-media collage illustrations, Lois Ehlert introduces readers to "rain fish"--the varied, colorful, and unique little collections of materials that float along on streams of rain water during storms. From a scrap of newspaper with a seashell eye and feather smile to a piece of cardboard with an orange peel eye and a leaf for a fin, Ehlert's rain fish come in all shapes and sizes.
Complete with an author's note explaining how Ehlert collected the found materials she used to make the book over the course of a year, Rain Fish is a spirited celebration of imagination, creativity, and observing the world in your own way--and it invites you to discover your own rain fish.
Author Notes
Lois Ehlert was born November 9, 1934, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and the Layton School of Art. She has also worked as an art teacher, freelance illustrator, and designer. She has created 38 books for young reader and is known for her colorful collage artwork. Her work as an author and an illustrator has appeared in countless publications and has received numerous awards and honors.
In addition to creating books, Ehlert has produced toys, games, clothes for children, posters, brochures, catalogs, and banners. She has received the Caldecott Honor Book, 1989, for Color Zoo, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year for Snowballs, the Booklist Editors' Choice for Cuckoo/Cucú: A Mexican Folktale/Un Cuento Folklórico Mexicano, the IRA Teachers' Choice and NCTE Notable Children's Trade Book in the Language Arts for Feathers for Lunch, the American Library Association Notable Children's Book and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
The first book that she wrote and illustrated was Growing Vegetable Soup (1987). Some of her other works include Planting a Rainbow (2003), Feathers for Lunch (1996), Snowballs (1999), Leaf Man (2005), Moon Rope/ Un Lazo de Luna (2003), which is based on a Peruvian folktale, and Rrralph (2013), Rain Fish (2016), and Heart to Heart (2017).
Lois Ehlert died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 25, 2021. She was 86.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-Found art supplies form suggestions of fish shapes while the text lyrically provides directions on how to make "rain fish" in this imaginative work by the master collage artist. Ehlert describes how the objects "hide in debris/until rain sets them free," thereby explaining how she finds materials. The ephemeral nature of the creations is emphasized by the instruction, "But you better look fast,/because rain fish don't last." The objects are found by chance, and the art made from them is open to interpretation. Children are invited to look beyond the items' original uses and explore what they see in the collage assortments. Vivid colors, varied textures, and expressive language inspire further contemplation. As an exploration of creativity and inventiveness, the book serves as a challenge to readers. What could they find to make their own rain fish? VERDICT An excellent addition to most collections, and especially valuable to libraries with budding found object artists.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* A day of rain brings strange creatures into Ehlert's world. Formed by wet bits of discarded paper, fall leaves, old socks, feathers, and other debris, they combine in elongated shapes that appear quite fishlike, often with a bottle cap or other round object for the eye. In Ehlert's imagination, these rain fish begin to take on lives of their own. They love to splash in puddles / and dance upon concrete. / They gather in the gutters / and then swish on down the street. The colloquial, rhyming text provides just enough guidance, drawing readers through the book while allowing them to enjoy the details as well as the overall effect of each picture. Ehlert has perfected her style of collage, with bold forms and a skillful, distinctive use of color, texture, and composition. Underscoring the book's usefulness as a springboard to creative activities, an appended double-page spread features some of the found objects that became the illustrations' rain fish and provides brief identifiers of box top, concert ticket, fish bobber, parking ticket, sand dollar, etc. With a smooth, flowing text and fish images that show up beautifully from a distance, this unusual picture book is a great read-aloud choice for a rainy day.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2016 Booklist
