Rain School

I enjoyed this book because it offers a different perspective of schools in the United States vs. schools in other countries. When the kids in this story are ready to go to school they have to build the entire school out of mud. Then when their school year is over the rains come and wash away the

Show More

entire school. So when they go back for the next school year they have to rebuild again.

The illustrations in this book are nice to look at. The illustrator uses bright colors for the clothing and it really contrast against the color of the characters skin.
The main idea of this story is hard work and where there is a will there is a way. These kids really enjoy school and can't wait to go so they are determined and build their school each school year.

Show Less

This story is about kids that start there school year off by building their school house. After school is out the rain washes away their little school and they have to build it again year after year. It's a good book to help kids value what they have in their own school.

Could use for Compare and

Show More

contrast... our school and theirs.

Show Less

Beautiful illustrations but I wanted more of a story.

I thought this book was charming! Loved the illustrations, and I thought the teacher was postive and energetic.

I liked this book because of its message that you don’t need the best of things to learn. There is all different ways to learn and more to learning then fancy equipment. It started off with the older children taking the younger children to school. I like this idea as there is a sense of looking

Show More

out for one another. Then when the children had to build their school themselves they were learning about working together and taking pride in what they were making. It was also about perseverance. In the fall, the rains wash the school away and then it must be rebuilt all over again next year. I think this is a great message to send because people will be starting over all the time throughout their lives.

Show Less

A story about a group of students in Chad who come together for the school year. They start by building their school by hand. My daughter was sad to see it all wash away in the end with the rainy season washing it away. But it made for a great conversation starter.

I really enjoyed this book for many reasons. I liked how it showed a different perspective that some kids go through in order to get an education. One of my favorite aspects of the book was the characters, the teacher in particular. She was portrayed as such a genuinely caring teacher that cared

Show More

about her students and wanted them to succeed. I liked how she went about different ways in order to teach her students. For example, in the beginning of the book when she tells her students their first lesson is to build their school. I also liked how the students say that everyday the teacher cheers them on when they do their schoolwork. In addition, I really enjoyed the plot and how in the beginning of the book the boy was one of the younger kids going to school and was nervous, but then by the next year he gained so much confidence and learned so much that he was now the older kid leading the others to school. I think the overall message of this book was that you don’t need a big fancy school or expensive resources to be educated. Sometimes people have little to no resources, and they make the best of what they have.

Show Less

Lovely. Invites kids to compare their own school experiences with those of these African children. Their passion for learning shines through.

It’s the first day of school. A group of children are walking to school, excited about the start of classes. They walk and walk and finally they arrive. There are no books. There are no desks. There is no school building. The teacher is there. ‘’We will build our school,” she says. “This

Show More

is the first lesson.”’

What a moment. ‘”We will build our school,” she says. “This is the first lesson.”

The children live in the African county of Chad. The children have an excitement about learning that I don’t see every day in my work in the schools in America. I feel the power of that excitement in these pages. It enables a group of children, led by a teacher, to build a place each year, from scratch, in which children can learn, knowing that, at the end of the school year, rains will come and the whole building and everything in it will be washed away by the heavy rain.

A moving story. Very powerful.

Show Less

Country of Chad in African, where Thomas first day of school with older siblings. Their first lesson is to build the school. They learn to make mud bricks, watch them dry in the sun. They build desk and the walls. He enjoyed the classroom, school is out and the rain is about to come.Next year they

Show More

will build another one.

Show Less

In my opinion, “Rain School” is a fantastic book. The book gives the reader a glimpse into education in another country. The story takes place in the country of Chad. I enjoyed the plot of the story. A young boy named Thomas is excited about the first day of school. When he arrives, he sees

Show More

that there isn’t a building or desks. There may not have been a school building, but there was a smiling teacher standing there. “‘We will build our school,’ she says. ‘This is the first lesson.’” The children all worked together to build a school. Once inside the school, all the children are excited and eager to learn. “This is the moment they have been waiting for.” After nine months of learning, the school year is over. The rainy season comes and washes the school away. The children don’t seem to mind. “It doesn’t matter. The letters have been learned and the knowledge taken away by the children.” This book pushes the reader to think about just how much we take for granted. I cannot imagine having to build my school, I just expect the school to be there. I expect there to be desks, chairs and pencils waiting for me. I also like the illustrations in the book. They are bright and vibrant. It almost looks like they were done in crayon. The children in the story are beautiful, with big smiling faces. The big idea of this book is that material things aren’t important, but the things you learn are. It didn’t matter that the school was washed away, the children learned and grew there while it lasted. They were ready and exciting about building a new school in September.

Show Less

This was one of the first books on our Engage New York ELA curriculum list. This book is wonderful! The text is rather short, but the illustrations are beautiful, and they add so much to the story. We see how Kenyan children build their school each year before the rainy season begins. They build

Show More

their school step by step, and they are so excited to attend and learn. The children in the story work hard to build their desks and the description of their books at the end of the school period is priceless. This is another text that shows the hunger for knowledge and the obstacles children in other countries must overcome just to do what many American children take for granted every day.

Show Less

This book is a story about a boy who is getting ready for his first year of school. Where he comes from he has to walk miles to get to his school. But when he arrives, there is no school. The first task/lesson for the students from his culture is to build there own school. They then can learn from

Show More

there. This book talks a lot about culture and makes students think about privilege and the differences in our schools as cultures. This books shows hardship but the characters show happiness and hope. This offers a lesson to be taught about being appreciative and working hard.

Show Less

It is the first day of school. Children head down the dry, dusty road in Chad, Africa, with the older brothers and sisters leading the way. When the children arrive, there is no school, but there is a teacher. The children must build their school and, in the process, learn how to make bricks,

Show More

walls, and desks made of mud. Then the lessons begin and the students eagerly start learning, with the teacher encouraging them along the way. At the end of nine months, the school year has ended and the rainy season begins. By the time school starts again in September, the school has been washed away and the children must build their school again.

The illustrations in this book are done by the author, James Rumford. The yellow, brown, and orange pastel and ink illustrations in this picture book vividly show the dry landscape in Chad and act as a fitting background for the story. The illustrations cover the entire page and complement the story beautifully. The excitement of the students for learning is evident on their faces, as is the mutual respect between the students and their teacher.

This book, based on the author’s own experiences as a teacher and Peace Corps volunteer in Chad, captures the excitement for, and importance of, education for primary school students.

Show Less

I really enjoyed this book because it gave me insight into how other countries go to school. It makes me really appreciate what I have. I am able to go to school in a building that I did not have to build and then it gets destroyed due to weather. I am privileged

Thomas and the other children head eagerly to school in this picture-book from author/illustrator James Rumford. When they arrive they find a teacher, but no building, as the annual rainy season in their part of Chad washes away the mud schoolhouse each year. First they must help their teacher to

Show More

build a new school, and then the learning can begin. Although the building will disappear with the next rainy season, the knowledge the children gain will stay with them...

Based upon Rumford's time teaching in Chad, when he was in the Peace Corps, Rain School offers an inspiring glimpse of how deeply committed some children are to getting an education in one of the poorest countries in the world. He also captures some of the difficulties they face in doing so, helping perhaps to partially explain why Chad has one of the lowest literacy rates in Africa. The artwork here is colorful and expressive, capturing the deep russet and golden hues of the area. As always, books like this help to remind us here in more affluent parts of the world how very fortunate we are, in terms of the educational resources available to us. Recommended to picture-book readers seeking stories that emphasize the importance of education, or stories set in Chad.

Show Less

Back to school in Chad means first building the classroom; learning to bake the bricks and building the mud walls and mud desks.At the end of the school year, the cycle begins again with the rain destroying the mud school.

About a school which is built of mud and thatch. Every rainy season it dissolves in the rain. The student help build it each year. Building the school is part of the learning. Illustration are simple, colourful. Story set in Chad.

At the beginning of the school year, children in Africa must build their school before they can begin learning. Emphasizes the gift and privilege of education, as well as the cooperative and co-creative aspects of learning. At the end of the school year, the rains will destroy the school and they

Show More

still start again next year.

Show Less