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SOAKED! by Abi Cushman

SOAKED!

by Abi Cushman ; illustrated by Abi Cushman

Pub Date: July 14th, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3662-5
Publisher: Viking

Three woodland creatures persuade a fourth to have some fun in the rain.

The first drop of rain hits the bear on the title page. “Look at all this rain,” says the bear in the opening pages. “Everything is dreary. / Everything is drenched.” A wet badger, bunny, and moose with a hula hoop are seen standing in the rain. “[N]o one is happy / And especially // not me.” The moose, badger, bunny, and bear retreat from the rain to the bear’s cave, where things are too crowded for hula-hooping. But back outside, where it seems that the badger has a blue umbrella just like the bear’s missing one, things are very splashy. The other animals persuade the grumpy bear to try the hula hoop, and the bear’s reluctant delight at the watery fun is a joy to see. Cushman’s animals are endearingly expressive and her rainy woodland settings, nicely realistic. The ungainly moose looks amusingly graceful with hula hoops, the bunny is dashing in a knit turtleneck, and the badger appears smugly happy with the blue umbrella. Umbrellas with bear-shaped handles and bees on blue canopies decorate the front endpapers, and bright hula hoops adorn the back ones.

A charming and good-humored reminder that a little rain can’t truly spoil the merriment.