Rain Dance

by Kathi Appelt, Emilie Chollat (Illustrator)

A cast of delightful animal characters dance through the pages of a fun counting book for toddlers.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Storytime, Animals, Childrens, Poetry

24 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Lives in College Station, TX with husband Ken and four adorable cats.

Two sons, both musicians.

Serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.

Reviews

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten different animals react with movement to rain falling on them. Simple and cute. Few words and clear pictures. Any age group.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my storytime kids last week for a rain/rainbows theme and they loved it. It also pulls double duty and helps with counting.

Very cute, and I liked the illustrations.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine, but nothing special for me. Kind of cute but some of the artwork was a little strange. I liked how thick the pages were though.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rain Dance is an adorable counting book. The author counts up to ten, presenting a specific number of animals on each page doing something in rain. Seven ducklings scurry, nine kittens scatter and ten ponies do a rain dance!
The artwork is done in a classic cartoon style that will please both adults and children. The animals featured in the story are done in bright colors and all have exuberant faces with joyful expressions.
This book is best for a one-on-one reading environment. This book provides an excellent opportunity to bond with your child over a book. The child can help count the number of animals on each page and name each animal as well.

[Kara Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is for almost infant age children. If in my special education room I might use this to those that are learning their numbers or learning how to read or rhyming words. I would use this book in those situations however I would not necessarily read this book to my class at a whole, but then again I do not know what or who I will be teaching and what stage of learning they will be currently working on. This number/animal book is not my favorite book.

[Sadie Devin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a fun book to read to kindergarteners or younger, especially on a rainy day. This book incorporates farm animals leaving in different ways to get out of the rain. This is a counting book so it starts out with 1 frog and ends with 10 ponies. This would be a good book for younger students to practice their counting and it has simple, colorful pictures to go along with the numbers and text.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a counting book for toddlers. Its premise is that when the rain starts to fall, animals react in different ways. We watch 1 froggy hop, 2 spiders skitter, and so on until we reach 10. A cozy size with full page close up paintings of the animals in an appealing cartoony style, this makes a good lap read for little ones.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read at Baby Lap Time on 3/14/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Toddler Lap Time on 3/14/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Toddler Lap Time on 3/15/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Niena Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose the book "Rain Dance" by Kathi Appelt because I was interested in finding a weather picture book. While reading the book I recognized it was a counting book. For every new page there was one more animal added. I highly recommend using this book in the classroom a lot of students would be interested in animals and it helps with counting.

[Aleece · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple counting book that introduces different animals with each number. The illustrations are bright and fun to look at and kids can help count along as well as make animal sounds for each page to get them more involved.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, with its simple text and adorable illustrations, would be a great book for infants/toddlers. My son, who read it on his own and still loves ABC and 123 books, liked it, but I can't imagine too many school-age kids would.

[Stephanie Wycihowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect book for toddlers and preschoolers all about rain. Prefect addition to a storytime about clouds, rain or weather!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this aloud and I found that to bring it to life you have to be creative in the reading of it.

[Thia]

weather,frogs,ducks,rabbits,dogs,counting

[Jennesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great counting book with animals. This book is also predictable and would go well with a math lesson plan.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and simple counting story in the rain with farm animals.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for kids.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super short little book, great for rounding out a storytime. It isn't very effective as a counting book, though, which was a bummer.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple counting book of animals in the rain. Possible use in rain lap time.