The Rainbabies

This is a wonderfully written book. A gorgeous story with beautiful illustrations. I gave this book as a gift to a friend of mine going through IVF. She loved the story of the Rainbabies and Mother Moonshower. The Rainbabies is a delightful book about an older couple that have everything but the one thing that they desire more than anything in the world, a child. One night after a rainstorm, they find twelve little babies in the grass and they take such wonderful care of them. So much so that Mother moonshower comes and gives them a "real" daughter of their own. They feel complete and full of love. I couldn't stop crying the first time I read this book. I have had cancer and because of my chemo was told that I may never have children. It hit home to know that you can have everything in the world, but feel like you have nothing if you don't have the love of a child. At first I felt robbed of this love. But I also understand that there must be a reason why. This is still my favorite book to pull out and read when I'm feeling a little bit lonely. This story is tender and sweet. You'll love it with all your heart.

I really enjoyed this book.. and i'm in high school.. :o) the illustrations are awesome along with the story. it's the type of book that makes you want to give someone a hug afterwards. i like reading this book to my younger syblings.. it is a great book.. comes highly recommended.

This heartwarming story begins in a plain enough fashion. An older couple live a lively and productive farm life, but long for children they cannot have. Then the magic begins. One March night, rain pattering on their roof arouses the woman. "Wake up, old man, I've heard the moonshower brings good fortune to everyone it touches!" They go out and stand in the rain. There, in the grass and wildflowers are shining drops of water, each holding a baby.The couple care diligently for their found little poems. They carry their babies in a willow basket while they do their chores, saving them from several near-disasters--a sudden storm, a weasel, and lightening-set fire. The babies sleep in a dresser drawer, covered gently by a scarf.One night a man arrives, placing on their table a basket of silvery twigs filled with tiny pearls. He offers them an enormous jewel for their babies. "Thank you," says the woman, "but the babies will stay with us." The man transforms into Mother Moonshower, who must take her babies home. "You musn't," cries the woman. The woman kisses her sleeping rainbabies goodbye and they disappear. But not before Mother Moonshower gives them, in the rainbabies' place, an infant girl. Rayna grows stronger and more lovely each year, and the couple feel their happiness complete.Few if any children were ever adopted this way. But those adopted more normally adore this story, which helps them see how love alone makes families real. The tale also makes them comfortable with their own magical difference. Alyssa A. Lappen

I bought Rainbabies initially for the illustrations. I was in a hurry to pick a couple books out and it was beautiful. Imagine my suprise and delight when I got to the end and you discover that the babies were actually sent to earth by The Goddess! (Portrayed as a beautiful silver maiden wearing a moonstone necklace). For my son, age 3, this gave a lovely and nurturing image of Her that he can conjure whenever She is mentioned. (Which is alot in our home!)If you like this one you also might try Nicola's Grapes (I am unsure of the Author)...Blessed Be! Moss

The Rainbabies reads like a classical fairy tale, with the all the heft of a cross-generational standard. But you haven't heard this story before, and the setting is quietly and peacefully timely and contemporary. Illustrator Jim Lamarche makes this point with frequent visual references to the present, yet his fluid style, reminscent at times of the great master N.C. Wyeth, not only enhances the narrative, but ensures its classic feel. There is no tragedy here, only magic, and I was as entranced by the story were as my eight and six-year-old daughters. An aging couple, content in all respects except for their childlessness, find twelve tiny babies in the grass following a moonshower. They take the babies in and raise them carefully, rising to the challenge of several near-disasters that threaten the lives of their young charges. Their devotion to the children is palpable, and this helps to calm the reader's vague sense of unease over the cause of the tiny infants' frequent peril. Surely everything will be all right. Or will it? It's a neat twist. You're not sure where this is going, and the hint of impending doom (as if Lamarche's illustrations are not enough) creates a gem of a page-turner. Finally, the old man and woman are rewarded for their single-minded commitment, and the happily-ever-after denouement settles over the last page like a warm smile. Lamarche's closing illustration is a memorable image, a fairy tale in itself, a picure of such contentment that only the most jaded reader will fail to grow wistful for simpler times and simpler pleasures. The Rainbabies is a keeper -- a curl-up-in-the-chair-with-the-kids kind of book that is likely to grow worn and dog-eared from long and frequent use.