Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Prasadam-Halls

There is a particular kind of picture book that does something more than tell a story. It holds something. It becomes a place a child can return to when the world feels unsteady, a place where the darkness they are experiencing finds acknowledgment and the possibility of light finds form. Rain Before Rainbows, written by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and illustrated by David Litchfield, is that kind of book. It arrived from Candlewick Press in 2020, traveled through years of classroom shelves and therapist waiting rooms and bedtime routines, and its recognition as a 2023 Meridian Award winner confirms what educators, counselors, and parents had already discovered: this is one of the most emotionally intelligent picture books published in its generation.

The Story and Its Heart

The story follows a young girl and her fox companion as they travel through a landscape of difficulty toward something brighter. The journey is structured around contrasts: rain before rainbows, clouds before sun, night before daybreak. The text, written in gentle, lilting rhyme, does not specify what the girl and her fox are moving away from. That vagueness is a deliberate and sophisticated choice. The book names the experience of difficulty without prescribing its form, which means the story belongs equally to a child processing a family loss, adjusting to a new home, navigating the aftermath of a frightening event, or simply moving through one of childhood’s inevitable passages of sadness.

Along the way, the travelers find companions. Friends appear in the dark stretches to walk beside them, and the book makes clear that the journey is not meant to be taken alone. This emphasis on community and connection alongside personal resilience gives the story a relational warmth that lifts it above the purely instructional.

The ending does not promise that darkness will never return. It promises that daybreak follows the night, that the rainbow comes after the rain. That is a meaningful distinction for young readers. Prasadam-Halls does not offer false reassurance. She offers genuine hope, which is a harder and more durable thing.

Illustration and Text

David Litchfield’s illustrations are among the most striking to appear in a picture book this decade. Working with ink, paint, and digital rendering, he creates a visual world of extraordinary emotional depth and range. The spreads move from cold, dark blues and grays in the journey’s difficult passages to warm golds and luminous ambers as the story opens toward light, and the progression feels physically felt rather than merely seen. Children who have not yet developed the language to describe emotional transitions often find them pictured here.

The figures of the girl and the fox are rendered with a particularity that makes them feel like individuals rather than archetypes. The girl’s posture changes across the pages, moving from hunched and inward in the dark sections to open and reaching in the light. That physical storytelling carries meaning that the text never needs to state explicitly, and the collaboration between Prasadam-Halls’s words and Litchfield’s images is close to perfect in its integration.

Litchfield has a distinctive way with texture and scale. Enormous natural landscapes dwarf the small travelers, which gives genuine weight to the courage required to keep moving. Mountains loom. Storm clouds occupy full spreads. The smallness of the girl and her fox against these environments communicates the vulnerability of grief without ever feeling overwhelming, because the warmth of the color palette and the presence of companions keeps the visual emotional register in balance.

The typography is also worth noting. The text flows with the illustrations in ways that reinforce the lyrical quality of Prasadam-Halls’s writing. The placement of words on the page supports the reading rhythm, and the result is a book that performs beautifully when read aloud, which is when picture books reveal their fullest dimension.

Themes and Emotional Resonance

The book’s primary themes are resilience, hope, and the value of community during difficulty. But what makes it particularly powerful is the way it honors the darkness before moving through it. Many picture books about difficult emotions rush to the reassurance, implicitly sending children the message that sadness should be moved past as quickly as possible. Prasadam-Halls allows the rain to be real and prolonged before the rainbow appears. The book spends time in the difficult landscape, acknowledges it, and only then begins to move.

This structure mirrors what child development specialists and grief counselors describe as healthy emotional processing. The book has been adopted widely in therapeutic and educational settings not because it provides clinical tools but because it provides a shared language and a shared image. A child who has read Rain Before Rainbows has a reference point for their own experience of moving through something hard.

The fox companion is a quietly significant element. Animals in picture books often serve as stand-ins for human relationships, and the fox’s consistent presence beside the girl models the kind of companionship that does not fix pain but refuses to leave it unaccompanied. For children whose difficult passages are also isolating, that visual of sustained companionship carries real comfort.

The Psalm 30:5 influence identified in the book’s critical reception, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning,” runs through the entire text as structure and as spiritual logic, without the book ever becoming didactic. Children receive the wisdom through story and image rather than instruction, which is exactly how wisdom is most lastingly transmitted to young readers.

Who It’s For

Candlewick Press lists the age range as 3 to 7, and that is the right window for the primary audience. The lyrical, somewhat abstract text works best with adult co-readers who can hold space for the conversation the book invites. Very young children will respond most to the images and the reading-aloud rhythm. Older children in the age range will engage more directly with the journey narrative and its emotional implications.

The book also works meaningfully for older children going through significant transitions, and its use in therapeutic settings has extended to adolescents who respond to its visual language more readily than to direct conversation about their experiences. Caregivers, teachers, and counselors consistently report that the book opens doors to conversations that children were not ready to have directly.

For adults reading with children who have experienced loss or upheaval, this book offers a framework for the conversation as much as a story. It gives both adult and child a shared vocabulary for something that can otherwise feel wordless.

Verdict

Rain Before Rainbows is a picture book that earns its place among the essential works of its era. Smriti Prasadam-Halls writes with the discipline and the emotional honesty that genuine lyric writing requires, and David Litchfield illustrates with a mastery of light, color, and emotional texture that elevates every page. Together, they have created something that functions simultaneously as a story, a comfort, and a small piece of art. The 2023 Meridian Award for Children’s Literature acknowledges a book that has already proven its value in the hands of children who needed it most. It belongs on every bookshelf where children’s books that matter are kept.

Frequently Asked Questions about Rain Before Rainbows

What is Rain Before Rainbows about?

Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Prasadam-Halls, illustrated by David Litchfield, follows a young girl and her fox companion on a journey through difficult and stormy times toward color, light, and a new day. The book uses the imagery of weather and seasons to explore resilience, hope, and the importance of companionship during hard passages.

What age range is Rain Before Rainbows best suited for?

Candlewick Press recommends the book for ages 3 to 7. It works best as a shared reading experience between children and adults, with younger children responding primarily to the illustrations and the read-aloud rhythm, and older children engaging more directly with the journey narrative. The book has also been used effectively with older children and adolescents in therapeutic contexts.

Why is this book used in grief counseling and therapeutic settings?

The book acknowledges difficulty honestly without rushing past it, which mirrors healthy emotional processing. It provides children with imagery and language for the experience of moving through something painful, without specifying what that something is. This non-prescriptive approach allows children to bring their own experience to the story and find it reflected there. Counselors and educators value it as a conversation opener as much as a story.

Who illustrated the book, and what is distinctive about the artwork?

David Litchfield illustrated Rain Before Rainbows using a combination of ink, paint, and digital rendering. His illustrations are notable for their emotional depth and dramatic use of color, shifting from cold, dark blues and grays in the difficult passages to warm, luminous golds as the story moves toward hope. The scale of the natural landscapes against the small figures of the girl and fox gives physical form to the vulnerability and courage of the journey.

Does the book have a religious or spiritual message?

The book draws structural inspiration from Psalm 30:5, the verse about weeping through the night and joy coming in the morning, but it does not present itself as a religious text. The spiritual logic of endurance and hope runs through the imagery without making the book exclusive to any faith tradition. Families of all backgrounds and none have used it meaningfully.

Has the book won awards before the Meridian recognition?

Yes. Rain Before Rainbows was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, awarded by CILIP for distinguished illustration in a children’s book published in the UK. It also won a Foreword INDIES Award. The 2023 Meridian Award adds to a record of critical recognition that reflects the book’s sustained impact across multiple years of use.

How does Smriti Prasadam-Halls handle the subject of grief and change for young children?

Prasadam-Halls does not name the source of the girl’s sadness, which is a careful and sophisticated authorial choice. By keeping the difficulty unspecified, she allows any child in any hard passage to find themselves in the story. She also refuses to minimize: the book spends real time in the dark before moving toward light, and that honesty is part of what makes it useful rather than merely reassuring.

Where can I find Rain Before Rainbows?

The book is published by Candlewick Press and is available through major booksellers including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, and Powell’s, as well as through independent children’s bookshops. The hardcover edition retails at $18.99. It remains in print and in active use in schools, libraries, and therapeutic settings.