WHEN THE RAIN CAME DOWN

Verse and visuals help readers imagine the devastation of flooding, the hope brought by the helpers, and the long path toward healing.

“When the rain came down” is a consistent reprise in this poetic account of the rising water that displaces thousands from their diverse, urban community. Some neighbors are unable to flee the surging waters, and people can be found on rooftops, boats, and wading helplessly while holding their belongings above their heads in Morris’ evocative, collagelike illustrations. With lost dogs barking their pleas for help, the tides seem to turn as the “choppers [thump]” with assistance from above, and then the rain stops. Food is passed around as hope swells among an assortment of people—children, the elderly, dogs, and nurses. Vibrant spreads show the arrival of help “from far and wide,” in tractors and trucks, with license plates indicating Maryland, Virginia, Nevada, and New York, and in toolbelts and hardhats. As the sun reappears against the city’s skyline with the water settled in the foreground, the story concludes with an insightful author’s note detailing Helakoski’s experiences with flooding in southern Louisiana’s Bayou Vermilion and a complicated reconciliation of the beauty of the region and memories of how precarious it all is when the rain comes down.

An intimate image of community and the rising tides of climate change.