Reviews for Thunder-Boomer!
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
September 2009
Crum, Shutta. Thunder-Boomer!; illus. by Carol Thompson. Clarion, 2009. 32p
IBSN 978-0-618-61865-1 $16.00 R* 5-8 yrs
It’s a hot day on the farm, so the narrator, her brother, and mother are hanging out at the pond while Dad plows. When a storm approaches, however, the family springs into action, shooing the chickens into the coop, grabbing the laundry of the clothesline, and heading into the house (accompanied by Maizey, the lone chicken who didn’t make it into the coop). Then the storm’s upon them, sending Dad’s blown-away underwear flapping around the yard and hail pinging on the roof. When the drama blows over, the family heads out into the barnyard to inspect the damage; much to the narrator’s surprise, she finds a shivering, rain-soaked kitten, whom they name in honor of the storm: Thunder-Boomer. The descriptive text (which reads like polished ragged-right prose, despite a flap-copy characterization of “free verse”) is particularly deft with scene-setting detail, and the pacing aptly conveys the tension, action, and release of a storm’s trajectory. Mixed-media illustrations, predominately watercolor with keenly contrasting black line, have a homey lushness, while figures evince the easy cartooning style of Bob Graham (“Let’s Get a Pup!” Said Kate, BCCB 9/01). The full-bleed three-quarter spreads contrast with spot art and compact panorama-esque views (four times wider than tall) of the dramatic scenes, while word cues for thundery sound effects and other morsels of onomatopoeia add both visual interest and participation opportunities. This is an engaging countryside complement to Hesse’s urban Come On, Rain! (BCCB 4/99); use the two together for a look at the commonalities of experience, and make sure the viewers note the wordless pre-title-page reveal of the kitten’s arrival on the scene. DS
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2— A farm family is sweltering, hoping for “a thunder-boomer” to relieve the heat. Thompson’s illustrations, done in pastels, ink, and watercolor, are full of motion and capture the sensations of the gathering clouds, the rain coming down, the intensity of the storm, and the feeling of cold wetness on the characters. The free-verse storytelling is light, airy, and perfectly matched to the drawings. Readers will enjoy the pictures of the family scurrying home as well as the one of Dad running outside to rescue a stray chicken from the downpour. The ending fully satisfies, as the children discover a wet kitten after the storm and appropriately name it Thunder-Boomer.—Adrienne Wilson, Edith Wheeler Memorial Library, Monroe, CT