There's a certain way that Bob Graham's books make you feel. A bit like the way you feel when you pull on your best and warmest woolly hat as the wintry weather nips at your ears. Or sliding into that favourite pair of goofy monster-foot slippers you've got at home, after a long hard day at work.
Bob Graham's books seem to work the same way on Charlotte too as she snuggles in to listen to the stories. Comfort food for the soul? Perhaps just so!
In "Home in the Rain" there's a scenario we're very familiar with - a long boring road trip. Francie and her heavily pregnant mum are heading home from Grandma's house and the rain is pouring down as they hit the freeway.
Francie and Mum decide to stop on the way home to Daddy, and have a 'car picnic'. Again, this is something that we love doing when we head out for the weekend and a surprise rainstorm scuppers our plans for a lunch outside. There's something oddly comforting about sitting in a nice warm car with the rain pounding for all it's worth.
Francie realises that as the car steams up, she can write on the windows with her finger. She spells out her own name, and mums, and daddy's too but what about her soon-to-arrive new baby sister? What will her name be? What will she be like?
It's a touching and warming little story and we loved the reunion with dad at the end. Exquisitely told and illustrated, once again Bob Graham hits the Book of the Week slot with ease.
Charlotte's best bit: Car picnics! We do that all the time and they're a lot of fun when the weather is rubbish!
Daddy's favourite bit: A beautifully captured moment in a young child's life, that calm before the 'storm' of a new sibling coming along. Heartwarming and lovely stuff this!
(Kindly sent to us for review by Walker Books)
"Home in the Rain"
Written and illustrated by Bob Graham
Published by Walker Books
Publication Date: 6th October 2016