“Hazy heat, / sweaty brow. / Dusty field, / tractor plow. / Dark horizon, / speckled sky. / Cornstalks rustle, / blackbirds fly.” A summer storm interrupts the chores of two farm boys on the plains of Ohio; the red-wing black birds fly up out of the corn. The sky darkens; the first lightning strikes in the distance. The boys and their father run for the barn as first rain and then hail pelts the fields. The sky clears, the black birds return and a rainbow appears above the farm. Thanks to the quenching rain, they can look forward to a good harvest coming soon. Mortensen’s pleasant rhymed verse nicely captures the short, sudden storm. Kiesler’s full-bleed expressionistic paintings have the wide open feel of the Ohio countryside. A nice snapshot of modern rural life, this will be a great addition to storytimes on weather and farms. (Picture book. 3-8)
