When the Rain Comes [Hardcover]

It is time to plant the rice crop in Malini's Sri Lankan community, and the little girl is both excited and nervous to help for the first time. What if she does it wrong? Will she be responsible if the crop fails? When the oxcart rumbles in loaded with seedlings, she reluctantly agrees to watch the big, imposing animal while the driver takes a break. Suddenly, the skies go dark with monsoon rain. A flash flood pours down the road, separating Malini from the driver and her family. They are shouting for her to run for higher ground, but what about the rice? Summoning up courage she never dreamed she possessed, Malini resolves to save ox, cart, and seedlings, no matter what it takes.Award-winning author Alma Fullerton tells Malini's story in expressive free verse that vibrates with emotion and energy. The moods of Sri Lankas rainy season come alive as Kim La Fave, illustrator of the award-winning Shin Chi's Canoe, uses a fresh style that is both contemporary and impressionistic to depict the courage of one little girl facing the power of a flash flood.Malini, a young girl in a small Sri Lankan community, is anxious about the responsibility of helping with the monsoon-season rice planting for the first time. When a flash flood leaves her stranded alone with the ox cart full of rice seedlings, she summons unexpected courage to calm the ox and save her towns rice crop.

AboutWhen the Rain Comes

2018 ALA Children's Notable Books Discussion List selection

2018 South Asia Book Award Highly Commended Book

2018 USBBY Outstanding International Books List - Grades PreK-2selection

2017 CCBCBest Books for Kids & TeensStarred Selection

2018School Library JournalblogThe Classroom Bookshelf: Global Literature to Teacher Global Understanding selection

2017School Library Journalblogger Betsy Bird's 2017 Picture Books selló-