And Red Galoshes by Glenda Millard and Jonathan Bentley

Little Hare, 2011. ISBN 9781921541469.
Picture book. Recommended. Subtitled A story about a rainy day, two small children get up to all sorts of adventures using their bright red galoshes and their imaginations. The little girl fills one up with leaves to throw around while the little boy uses his as a kite that soars high in the sky. The wind gets into their umbrella and swoops them up into the air, with their little dog safely in the galosh. What fun to have galoshes in wet windy weather.
In a deceptively simple verse story, Millard has used internal rhyme like the lovely line 'Kite tails swooping, dancing, looping' to make this story stand out. The repetition of the phrase 'and red galoshes' ends each sentence and makes for an ideal word for a toddler who can shout it out, or for a new reader who can begin to see how words are structured.
Jonathan Bentley's delightful watercolour illustrations make the reader's imagination soar with the words. With a rainy day palette of soft blues and greys, the vivid red of the galoshes stands out.
Ideal for use with young children in a unit of work on weather, the seasons, rainy days, and the wind, this book is one that grew on me the more I read it.
Pat Pledger