Christmas is coming, and I’ve been making my “to-give” list. I always like to give books to friends with kids, and I found “the one” early this year.
2020 has been quite a year, and Rain Before Rainbows delivers a strong dose of hope to a world that is hurting.
When the pandemic was just ramping up and everyone was doing virtual read-alouds and e-book releases, I came across a book that really struck a chord with me. Walker Books released Rain Before Rainbows as a free ebook months before its scheduled publication date, and boy was it timely! I think I even teared up.
Our life has been filled with “trouble” for the past few years. Even though many of our trials didn’t start in 2020, this year has been full of upheaval and sorrow. This isn’t to say we’ve been hopeless or that everything in our lives is bad. Just that it has been a long, hard season. I’m sure many of you can relate!
One of the things that has been bringing me hope in the midst of our personal series of unfortunate events is Jesus’ reminder from John 16:33 – “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
This verse says to me “Yes, life is going to be hard and painful sometimes (perhaps even often!), but you can still expect good. Even on the worst days, you can expect a happy ending.”
And that’s how I’d like to define hope here. Hope isn’t a fluffy pie-in-the-sky wish. Real hope is an expectation that things can and will get better. As I’ve often reminded my husband in this season, “This isn’t the end of our story.”
Okay…so enough of my rambling! Let’s get back to the book!
Rain Before Rainbows points children (and their adults!) to hope by starting on “the worst day” with the main character setting out from a castle that has gone up in flames…in the rain. (Ugh…you know those days, right?) The character journeys through scary and beautiful places, sometimes carried along by friends. And in the end? Well, I don’t want to spoil that part! Looks like you’ll just have to read it yourself.
Between the gorgeous rhyming text and the enchanting artwork, there is a lot to love about this book, and I am really, really excited to give it as a gift this year.
If you want a sneak preview of the book, you can watch Stanley Tucci read it on this website: https://stayhome.walker.co.uk/rainbows/ (Plus, they have a great list of activities and conversation starters linked here too!)
If you want more ideas for using Rain Before Rainbows to start conversations about hardship and hope, check out the book talk series below!
How to Use It: A Series of Book Talks for Rain Before Rainbows
Here’s a simple set of book talks you can use to read with intention.
Book Talk 1: Diving In
- Look at the cover. Make observations. Ask: What do you think this book might be about? How does the cover make you feel?
- Look at the front endpapers. Ask: What do you notice? (There are storm clouds here.)
- Look at the title page. Ask: What do you notice?
- Read the first page of the story. Ask: How do you think the character feels? Why do you think the character feels that way? (The pictures show the main character walking away from a smoldering castle.)
- Read the remainder of the story.
- After reading, look at the back endpapers. Compare them to the front endpapers. Ask: How is the beginning of the book different than the end of the book? What changed?
- Ask: What are some of the things that happened to the character?
Book Talk 2: Going Deeper
- Start reading the story.
- After reading the pages with dueling dragons and crashing thunder, pause to talk about the “hard parts” of our stories. Ask: What are some of the hard parts of peoples’ stories? Does everyone have hard parts of their stories?
- Finish reading the story. Then say: Everyone has hard parts of their stories. Who or what helps people during the hard parts of their stories? (Revisit pages of the book that highlight friends, hopeful dreams, and the opportunity to discover.)
- Ask: What is a hard part of your story? Who or what helped you through the hard part of your story?
Book Talk 3: Taking Off
- Ask: What does hope mean? Talk about the meaning of hope, emphasizing the idea that hope is “expecting something good to come.” (You can also talk about the different ways people use the word hope to describe “wishing/wanting something to happen.”)
- Read the story.
- After reading, ask: What kinds of things give people hope or allow them to expect something good to come? What things in the story might have given the character hope?
- Ask: Why do you think hope is important?
- Ask: What gives you hope?
Beyond the book:
- Interview friends and family and ask what gives them hope when things are hard.
- Write your own statements of hope using the sentence frame: “_____ before _____.”
Your turn! What books bring you hope? What books will you be gifting this year?
P.S. Celebrate Life!