It's a rainy, boring day inside, but luckily, this kid has a nice stack of all sorts of things. Rainy days turn into adventure in a brightly illustrated tale, which also slides nicely into the bedtime read category.

The rhyming text and bright illustrations would be perfect for this age, plus children will love the imagery of a child “travelling” to outer space. This book is perfect for children between the ages of two and five years old.

Even though the inside flap of the book uses “his” referring to the child in the story, I felt the child could either be a boy or a girl and there was nothing in the story to say otherwise. I did notice that the child borrowed “tools from Dad” and “Mom’s old dish rag”- hmm, not sure I like that. The colors are bold and bright and really capture the attention of the reader. The illustrations provided by award-winner Charly Palmer (Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent) are amazing. The story ends with the child safely tucked into bed with a solar system mobile dangling from the ceiling. A countdown ensues and a trip to space (on a broom down the hallway) begins. With a little help from Mom and Day, this child is all set with a rocket ship and space suit. This requires a launching pad, a cardboard box, some socks, swim trunks and goggles, and a dish rag. Even though they have plenty of toys and games, they really want to do something “really tough”. This story begins with a young child who is stuck inside the house because of the rain. This is a wonderful story as to what can happen when you combine a rainy day and a child’s imagination.

My rainy day rocket ship