RAINSTORM

Boredom leads to excitement when a little boy, trapped by rain, finds wonder and escape in an unlikely place. A bouncing ball leads the lonely child through his Edwardian-era stately home to a key, and then to a steamer trunk, in which he discovers a ladder. The intrepid explorer descends into a tunnel, then ascends a staircase into a glorious sunny day, where he finds a trio of new friends. He does not seem to notice, though readers will, that he has emerged into the modern day, but the universal vocabulary of childhood easily breaks temporal barriers. Lehman compacts a wealth of storytelling into her wordless narrative, large single panels speeding up to two six-panel pages as the tie-clad boy makes his way down the ladder and through the tunnel, then slowing down again as he enjoys the wonderment of his experience and his new friends. Pronounced black outlines contain the action with such definition that the rare full-bleed spread is all the more effective when it occurs, punctuating the boy’s escape. Another surrealist triumph from a vigorous emerging talent. (Picture book. 4-9)