Rain, Rain! Go Away! Sunny Side Up by Fiona Woodcock

A bright-faced girl awakes cheerily, ready for a fun day outdoors with Dad.

"I CHOOSE SUNNY-SIDE UP EGGS!"

"GRAPE JUICE? PLEASE!"

But when she raises the shade, the view outside is gray and rainy. Oh, No!

DRIP, DRIP, DROP!

"Into each life some rain must fall" is the old saying. But not TODAY! The girl sheds a few disappointed drops herself as Dad suggests she can imagine some fun things to do inside with him. Mom dashes out to work, umbrella at the ready but not looking too sad about leaving Dad in charge.

And at first the little girl is a good sport. She builds a bird's nest among her pillows. She builds tall castles with her blocks, and then imagines that they are bowling pins that she knocks down with her ball. She crawls under the tablecloth and makes pretend muffins for her stuffed animals. She draws pictures and has a sippy drink in hiding. But the rain is now louder, and she crawls out sadly.

Daddy calls her for a warming lunch of bright red tomato soup and his best grilled cheese sandwich. He proposes a nap. NO!

But a meltdown is averted, and after she naps, the girl paints lots and lots of pictures of birds of all colors in the sunshine. She reads book after book. And then it's time for Mommy to come home.

And as it always does, the sun comes back, dispersing the gray clouds and sparkling in the puddles. It's a good day to play in the park. There are lots of birds wheeling and diving and pecking for worms in the drying grass, and Mommy pushes her back and forth for a long turn on the swings.

All's well when the sun is back and there's spaghetti for supper, in Fiona Wookcock's sunny, new picture book, Sunny-Side Up (Greenwillow Press, 2021) which reminds preschoolers and parents alike that the sun always comes back, if not always just when it's wanted! Artist Fiona Woodcock's cheerful mixed media illustrations affirm that there's always sunshine sometime, somewhere, in the future. "Stippled with subtle textures, the settings always seem on the verge of dematerializing, underscoring the tenuousness of the child’s mood," says Publishers Weekly with admirable insight!