I love Daniel Pinkwater and, since the Juniors are studying weather, I decided to read it along with Uma Krishnamswami's "Monsoon," and the Barrett's "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," and Aardema's "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain." I save Pinkwater for last because it is ridiculous and hilarious and I love to see the kids' expressions when Mr Submarine spots the United States Marine Band out in the rain. This is a silly book (like most of Pinkwater's) with rich illustrations and a warm heart--highly recommended. ( )

I love Daniel Pinkwater and, since the Juniors are studying weather, I decided to read it along with Uma Krishnamswami's "Monsoon," and the Barrett's "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," and Aardema's "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain." I save Pinkwater for last because it is ridiculous and hilarious and I love to see the kids' expressions when Mr Submarine spots the United States Marine Band out in the rain. This is a silly book (like most of Pinkwater's) with rich illustrations and a warm heart--highly recommended. ( )

Mr. and Mrs. Submarine are enjoying breakfast on a rainy morning when Mrs. Submarine decides to let the cat in out of the rain. Mr. Submarine next lets the dog in to get dry. Then they notice the horse is soaked, so in he comes, too. Eventually the feel they must also accommodate all the other people and animals they happen to spot out in the rain: crows, the car, Ludwig Van Beethoven, the U.S. Marine Band. The story becomes more and more ludicrous but the Submarines take it all in stride as if it were perfectly normal.

A Rainy Morning was a great book to read. It did not get boring at any point, I just wanted to keep reading to know who was going to be going to be invited to the Subamrine's house next.This book kept me wondering if Mrs. Submarine was every going to run out of muffin mix, and not have enough for all the guests that they had invited into their home. It was a very humorous book to read. ( )

One rainy morning Mr. and Mrs. Submarine find themselves hosting an ever-growing assortment of wet creatures, from a shy coyote to the United States Marine Band. "I'm glad we bought four hundred and fifty pounds of muffin mix," Mrs Submarine said, and well might she be, with a cat, a dog, a horse, some crows, some chickens, a wildebeest, the aforementioned coyote and Marine band, a small European circus, and Mr. Ludwig von Beethoven to feed!

As mentioned in my review of The Muffin Fiend, the muffin is a recurring theme in the Pinkwaters' work, and I was happy to see that Rainy Morning was no exception. But although I enjoyed this tale of an impromptu rainy morning gathering, somehow I didn't find it quite as hilarious as some of this author/illustrator team's other work. There were certainly moments that won a smile, but none that provoked the helpless giggling I have come to expect. That's the worst of being picture-book geniuses, I expect: solidly "good" books just seem to be a disappointment! Still, I'm glad to have read this, and thank my friend Lisa for recommending it - a good Pinkwater is nothing to sneeze at. ( )