AFTER THE RAIN

A youngster ventures outside in the wake of a rainstorm.

Driven inside by a short shower, the unnamed protagonist, accompanied by Lucy the dog, returns to Grandma’s garden to marvel at the “after-the-rain” smell and encourage creatures that have taken shelter to come out again. Grandma urges the little one to look more closely at anthills and sprouting mushrooms. In a simplified explanation of the “wood wide web,” she notes that trees talk to each other by “[twisting] their roots together like people holding hands.” Spicer Rice tells this story mostly through the pair’s dialogue. Each spread illustrates their discoveries, highlighting a different topic—some connected to the rain, like petrichor, puddles, and evaporation, and others to animal behavior such as migrating, burrowing, or foraging. These words each appear on a different spread and are also explained in more detail in the backmatter, where Spicer Rice adds that fungi are also involved in tree communication. In Lee’s colorful art, the garden plants are stylized; the child is brown-skinned, while Grandma is pale-skinned with a nose as rosy as her cheeks. Readers will eagerly pore over these illustrations, whose extra details, like a raindrop-spangled spider web, enrich a narrative that exudes enthusiasm for nature.

A pleasing and informative exploration of a storm-drenched world.