Les premières lignes / the first lines :

“Ice cream,” I say, my birthday surprise!
“Oh no!” I scream, with tears in my eyes.
I shout in her ear, “This is one crazy ride!”
But that was her rear, I just about cried.

Contenu / content :

Outstanding in the Rain: A Whole Story with Holes is a clever beautifully-crafted picture book. It tells the story of a young boy’s birthday at Coney Island (New York City). The mother and son’s day-trip is joyful and eventful.

The design of the book is original and delightful. The composition of colors, lines, shapes and patterns is pleasing. Each double page has die-cut holes revealing pictures or words.

The rhythmic and rhyming language is all the more poetic as Frank Viva plays on words, specifically oronyms. An oronym is a pair of words or phrases which sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. For instances: “ice-cream”/“I scream”; “fork handles”/“four candles”.

As the title tells you, this book is an outstanding achievement.