Rain Talk

Unlike Serfozo and Narahashi's previous collaborations ( Who Said Red? ; Who Wants One? ), this gentle picture book forgoes lilting rhythms and rhymes in favor of a prose-like text brimming with onomatopoeic sounds. A girl and her black dog walk through the rain, listening as the drops ping on an old tin roof, hiss on the highway and ``Bup Bup Bup Bup'' on their umbrella. ``Listen to the / PlopPlipPlipPlipPlipPlip / as it speckles the smooth surface of the pond. / To mother Duck / that says, / ``Time to go for a swim.'' They curl up before a fire, go to sleep, and awaken the next morning to find a rainbow. Although the text strains to stretch this slight concept to 32 pages, Narahashi's bright, appealing watercolors capture the wonder of ``silvery slants of rain.'' Ages 4-8. (Sept.)