THE WORLD MADE A RAINBOW

A homemade rainbow serves as a bright reminder that all rainstorms end.

“All of the world had to stay home today,” a White child gripes, then jumps at her mother’s suggestion that they make a rainbow to hang in the window. Each color offers its own challenges and associations, from RED, which reminds the young painter of the chairs in her classroom, to VIOLET, the name of her sharply missed best friend. Why not give her a video call? As it turns out, Violet, a child of color, is making a rainbow for her window too—a terrific chance to get out of the house: “We walk to see hers, / and she walks to see mine. / We wave to each other and really, it’s fine. / Not perfect—but neither’s my rainbow. So what? / I’m perfectly happy with all that I’ve got.” Using paint, crayon, and paper collage, Hamilton illustrates Robinson’s reassuring rhyme with simply drawn scenes that begin with a street scene in which several windows are filled with diverse residents longingly looking out and end with an equally diverse group of children (including one in a wheelchair) playing in a puddle beneath a big natural rainbow. The book alludes to the social isolation of the current pandemic without naming it or touching on the many tragedies it’s wrought, ending reassuringly: “we’ll still have each other when this rainstorm ends!” (Here’s hoping.) A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Save the Children. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.6-by-21.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 79% of actual size.)

Nonspecific, soothing, and likely to put rainbows in many a real window.