Rain Before Rainbows
Written by Smriti Halls. (Published by Walker Books, 2020)
This book was originally released for free in its digital format as part of Save The Children’s ‘Save With Stories’ campaign during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here is this message I wrote for it’s digital release:
‘Drawing this book was a complete joy. The emotion that comes through Smriti’s poetic writing is really powerful and it was a very happy challenge to try and translate that visually within the illustrations.
There are many messages that this book contains. What stands out most for me personally is the idea that the journey that the girl and her Fox friend find themselves on is obviously really tough and really scary, but they keep going. They keep holding on to hope. I completely loved that idea when I first started drawing the book all those months ago, and I absolutely love it now as I sit here writing this note. In fact, the idea of ‘Hope over Fear’ is one of the reasons the Fox looks the way it does. No matter how dark and terrifying things might get, the pattern on Fox’s fur will be a constant reminder of the light and natural beauty that exists in the world.
For the past few months a lot of you have been drawing your own rainbows and displaying them on your windows. I have loved seeing some of these on my daily walks. They always remind me of all the brave people in the world. They also remind me of the Girl and her magic Fox and the journey that they had together. Hope over Fear. Rain Before Rainbows.’
Winner of Forward Reviews Indies Book Award 2020 and Winner of the Panda Book award 2021/22
