Rainy Day

by Emma Haughton, Angelo Rinaldi (Illustrator)

Shortly after his parents have separated, Nick visits his father on a gray, rainy day and they take a long walk in the storm.

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Realistic Fiction

24 pages, Hardcover

First published April 6, 2000

About the author

The Dark, Emma Haughton’s chilling new thriller for adults, will be published by Hodder in August 2021.

Emma grew up in Sussex; after a stint au pairing in Paris and a couple of half-hearted attempts to backpack across Europe, she studied English at Oxford University then trained in journalism. During her career as a journalist, she wrote many articles for national newspapers, including regular pieces for the Times Travel section.

Following publication of her picture book, Rainy Day, Emma wrote three YA novels. Her first, Now You See Me, was an Amazon bestseller and nominated for the Carnegie and Amazing Book Awards. Better Left Buried, her second, was one of the best YA reads for 2015 in the Sunday Express. Her third YA novel, Cruel Heart Broken, was picked by The Bookseller as a top YA read for July 2016.


Find out more at www.emmahaughton.com or www.facebook.com/emmahaughtonwriter. Or get in touch via Twitter: @Emma_Haughton

Reviews

[Erin Ramai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rainy Day is appropriate for students in Kindergarten through second grade.

This text definitely depicts the mood of divorce—sadness. It is even set against the backdrop of a rainy day, which evokes a somber mood. However, in my opinion, it misses the mark. Nick, the main character, is a child who is struggling to get accustomed to seeing his dad less often due to divorce. Yet, the text never informs the reader that divorce is the cause of his sadness and the strained relationship between father and son. After a deluge, which I assume was intended to represent the overwhelming feelings of both characters, in the end, Nick simply says, “I miss you” and his father replies “Me too” “All the time”. And the sun comes out. It seemed kind of cliché to me.

Haughton leaves a tremendous amount of guesswork up to the inference skills of students in Kindergarten through second grade. Yes, I think they might be able to figure out what the story is about, but because the manner in which it is written is so indirect, to me, it is lacking. Mind you, I don’t believe an author needs to spell everything out simply because he or she is catering to a child audience, but in my opinion, the majority of a text claiming to be about divorce should focus on the issue in a way that makes the text’s purpose clear.

[Hannah Melberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rainy Day was about a young boy whose father had promised him he would take him to the fair. That day it was raining and his father told him it would have to wait. So his father told him to come with him and they went out in to the rain. They bought him some rain boot and trudged through the rain to the park. A big dog jumped up on him to lick his face but he was alright. They made their way down to the sea where they watched the wave’s crash up and ate some smashed cookies from his dad’s pocket. As they were talking the little boy told his dad that he missed him and his father told him things will get better soon. This book had awesome illustrations that looked like they were almost paintings of real people. I think this book could be used better in fourth or fifth grade.

[Ashley Correll · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young boy visits hsi father shortly after his parents have divorced and instead of going to the fair because of the weather they take a long walk in the storm. This is a very reassuring fiction book for children who have experienced or are experiencing parental separation or divorce. Children with a parent who lives elsewhere will also be able to relate to this story and it celebrates the differences in families as well as comforts those children experiencing such differences.

[Jpickering · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story would be great to show that many people come from backgrounds with one parent. This could up lift a child so that he/she will know that everything will be okay. I liked the way the mood was set with the it being a rainy day in the story.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures and writing were beautiful. The story used inference to explain that the boy was only visiting with his father, and didn't actually get to see him very often. It wasn't a memorable book, however.