Ehlert returns to two favorite subjects, fish and found objects. The artist’s eye sees all kinds of colorful fish swimming in the gutters after a rain where most people would just see trash. One fish, for example, is constructed from an odd sock, a twig, a leaf, a broken popsicle stick, a feather, and a crumpled grocery store receipt. Each collage has been carefully assembled but Ehlert has made them all look loosely constructed to reinforce the idea that the rain fish are all made of things anyone might find on the sidewalk or side of the road after a rain. You’ll see them if you look for them, she tells the reader, but look fast because tomorrow they’ll be gone. (Ages 2–5)

Get to know the “rain fish” that come to life during rainstorms in this gorgeous exploration of nature with vibrant collage artwork from the Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

When blue sky turns gray and it rains all day, sometimes rain fish come out and play.
They swim among discards and debris. Do you see them, too? Or is it just me?

Through lyrical text and her incomparable mixed-media collage illustrations, Lois Ehlert introduces readers to “rain fish”—the varied, colorful, and unique little collections of materials that float along on streams of rain water during storms. From a scrap of newspaper with a seashell eye and feather smile to a piece of cardboard with an orange peel eye and a leaf for a fin, Ehlert’s rain fish come in all shapes and sizes.

Complete with an author’s note explaining how Ehlert collected the found materials she used to make the book over the course of a year, Rain Fish is a spirited celebration of imagination, creativity, and observing the world in your own way—and it invites you to discover your own rain fish.