Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

What do you do when it starts raining inside your house?Uninvited, the rain moves inside the house. Huddled and wet, Pauline and Louis watch the rain fall. Their family tries to stop the rain, but nothing works. Outside in the sunshine, the children go to school, hiding their secret from their joyful classmates. Back at home, a seedling sprouts through the kitchen floor. Soon the house is bursting with plants and animals. The siblings watch as their father opens the door to their curious classmates, who marvel at the "unlikely new playground" inside their house. Eventually, the life inside outgrows the house itself, with sky-reaching branches shooting through the walls and roof. Finally, the rain stops, and sunlight fills the transformed house. Translated from French, the sparse, poetic text is at once specific and open to interpretation. This quietly resilient story, a subtle metaphor for experiencing and processing grief, depression, or trauma, invites reading and rereading as small visual and textual elements are discovered and examined. The relationship between inside and outside hinted at in the text is compellingly explored in the illustrations. Colorful accents create balance and focus against the sparse neutral brown and gray backgrounds of the house's interior and the desertlike outside world. Pauline and Louis, along with the rest of their family, have straight black hair and rosy-tan skin. The schoolchildren are diverse in appearance. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7.5-by-20.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 89% of actual size.)Visually and textually poetic, this contemplative story continues to grow through repeated visits. (Picture book. 4-9)

ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

Boots on! Umbrellas up! Why, oh why, is it raining inside Pauline and Louis' house and not inside anyone else's? No one invited the rain in, but water pours down from nowhere and puddles form, while outside the sun is shining. At school, with raincoats and boots on, Pauline and Louis stand alone at the edge of the sun-infused playground, fearing the other children will find out their house's secret. Back at home, ferns, reeds, and water lilies grow on the floor and walls. Large trees shoot up, inhabited by wild animals. As curious children arrive and surround the house, the trees inside burst through the walls and roof, and the rain stops! All break into smiles as Papa opens the door for the many children to come inside to play. Full-bleed double-page spreads, illustrated digitally, teem with splashing, dripping rain, riotous greens, and joyous flat colors. In this positive story about variety, children will eagerly absorb the simple message that being different can have happy results.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

What do you do when it starts raining inside your house?Uninvited, the rain moves inside the house. Huddled and wet, Pauline and Louis watch the rain fall. Their family tries to stop the rain, but nothing works. Outside in the sunshine, the children go to school, hiding their secret from their joyful classmates. Back at home, a seedling sprouts through the kitchen floor. Soon the house is bursting with plants and animals. The siblings watch as their father opens the door to their curious classmates, who marvel at the "unlikely new playground" inside their house. Eventually, the life inside outgrows the house itself, with sky-reaching branches shooting through the walls and roof. Finally, the rain stops, and sunlight fills the transformed house. Translated from French, the sparse, poetic text is at once specific and open to interpretation. This quietly resilient story, a subtle metaphor for experiencing and processing grief, depression, or trauma, invites reading and rereading as small visual and textual elements are discovered and examined. The relationship between inside and outside hinted at in the text is compellingly explored in the illustrations. Colorful accents create balance and focus against the sparse neutral brown and gray backgrounds of the house's interior and the desertlike outside world. Pauline and Louis, along with the rest of their family, have straight black hair and rosy-tan skin. The schoolchildren are diverse in appearance. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7.5-by-20.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 89% of actual size.)Visually and textually poetic, this contemplative story continues to grow through repeated visits. (Picture book. 4-9)

School Library Journal (Sat May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

Gr 2-4 A disquieting gloom hangs over this story. Despite the title, readers don't see the day the rain moves in. It is already raining inside a family's home even though it is sunny outside. The water gathers in puddles and pools, mildew forms on walls, plant life begins to grow. There is no sense of wonder among the family members as they watch the sprouts and branches and their home becoming a rainforest. Each damp day is met with scowls from the parents and the slouching sadness of the children, who are always in their hooded raincoats. Ashamed, the kids sadly huddle in the corner, walk to school wet and frowning, distance themselves from their peers. Rain often symbolizes depression, and the perpetual rainstorm inside the house evokes a feeling of an entire family's chronic suffering. But in a nod, perhaps, to pandemic-laced existentialism, the other schoolchildren arrive and enjoy this odd playground, just as the rainforest punctures the house's walls and roof and the scene becomes quite joyful. Translated from French, matter-of-fact text offers two or three sentences in white space, just outside the illustrations, contrasting with the melancholy of the artwork. Is this a theme of overcoming shame? An oversimplification of family dysfunction? VERDICT A surreal tale, this may not have enough teeth to ensnare the attention span of more literal-minded young readers. Chance Lee Joyner, Haverhill P.L., MA