It has been uncommonly hot and dry in the India/Nepal terai region. One day a tiger enters the village. People run in fear. It must be a bad omen: the tiger is angry and has taken the rain. Two girl children, Usha and Anjali, set off across the river and into the jungle to ask Tiger why she took the rain. There they meet a jackal and some monkeys who take them under their care and explain where the rain went. Did Tiger take the rain? The children learn the role the forest plays in the climate cycle. In the end, they plant new trees, the forest grows, and the rains return.
When the sun shines, it shines down on humans and tigers together.
When it rains, we share the same rain.
Did Tiger Take the Rain? was first published in hard cover by Green Writers Press of Brattleboro, Vermont, USA, in 2016. It is now available as an open source book through Pratham Books of India. Through their Story Weaver platform, Pratham will help distribute it to needy children around the world. It can be translated, downloaded, changed and distributed as per Story Weaver’s terms and conditions and the Creative Commons – BY 4.0 license.
The book is yours. Share it with the children of the world. A book in every child’s hands.
C. W. Norris-brown, WRITER-ILLUSTRATOR 