THE DAY OF THE RAINBOW
By
An English author (The Winter Bear) joins a South African illustrator (Not So Fast, Songalolo) in a celebration of urban life--even on a day when the city lies ""hot and cross in the summer sun."" There are three losses here: Nerinder, a little Indian girl, loses her library book (Mike Mulligan), struggling along behind her mother while both ""the new baby"" and ""the old baby kick [s] up one huge great steaming hullabaloo!"" A black roller-skater loses the earrings he's bought for his girl; and Dimitri Poppodopolous is ""cross and obstreperous"" because his wife has lost a precious recipe. Rain and rainbow cool everyone down; each finds another's lost item, and they exchange for a happy ending. Daly pulls readers into his busy watercolor scenes, full of the details of urban life, by using closeup, often child-low, points of view; his humor and lively variety amplify the picturesque bustle of the deftly cadenced verse. It would be fun to pair this with Blueberries for Sal in a program.