Renee Raindrop

Renee Raindrop Written by: Frieda Oelrich Illustrated by: Brooke Webb Children ages 3 to 8 will enjoy this whimsical tale and song about a raindrop named “Renee”, and her adventures as she leaves her mother to fall down to earth for the first time. Through Renee’s story and song children will gain a basic understanding of the water cycle and the importance of water in their daily lives. Author Information Frieda Oelrich is a retired teacher. She grew up and still lives in a rural community in Central Wisconsin. Since her retirement she has stayed in touch with children by substitute teaching, tutoring, volunteering and working with ELL students at her local school. She was involved with her church as a Sunday School teacher for twenty-eight years. As a teacher, children’s books were her passion and she was enthusiastic about reading and sharing all aspects of them. She loved writing books for and with her kindergarten and first grade students. Her love of Children’s literature initiated the writing of “Renee Raindrop”, her first published work. Illustrator Information Brooke Webb born in 2001 is from Central Wisconsin. She has had a passion for drawing and illustrating since she was two years old. By the age of 12 she had earned several local and state awards for drawing and illustrating. This is her debut as a published illustrator. Growing up on a dairy farm has inspired her animal characters to come to life. She also gains her inspiration from her family and friends. Renee was a little raindrop who lived way up in the sky. One day the wind started to blow, and Renee was having a good time sailing around with the wind. Suddenly the wind stopped blowing and Renee began to fall. “Mother!” she cried, “I’m falling!” “It’s okay,” Mother replied, “It’s what raindrops do. You’ll be back; I’ll see you again soon…you’ll see.” Down, down she went. At first Renee was rather frightened. She missed her mother already. But as she fell she started to realize that she was having a lot of fun. Soon she could see the earth below her. “Oh no…where will I land?” she wondered. She saw green grass below and then “plink” she landed right in a puddle of water filled with many other little raindrops. They were all a little bit worried, but Renee cheered them up when she said… “Don’t worry; my mom said that I will come back to her soon.” “I’m sure you will go back to your mom too.” “Good! Let’s have fun while we are here!” cried all the other raindrops. Renee Raindrop (Song) Down comes Renee Raindrop, Drip, drip, dripping all around. Down comes Renee Raindrop, Splash, splash, splashing to the ground. Filling the lakes and streams, Giving water to the thirsty earth, Making the grass turn green. Down comes Renee Raindrop, Plink, plink, plinking form the cloud. Down comes Renee Raindrop, Gush, gush, gushing from the spout. Chasing the spiders out, Washing the faces of the flowers, Making the children shout. Down comes Renee Raindrop, Sprinkling gently to the ground. Down comes Renee Raindrop, Soft, soft, softly falling down. Now Renee must say goodbye. And when the sun returns once more…. There’s a rainbow in the sky!