Description "The story and structure are surprising in ways you could never imagine just by looking at the cover." —Ehon Nabi, Japanese picture book online bookstore "You'll gasp in delight when you reach the last page." —Amazon Japan 『Picnic on a Rainy Day』, a picture book depicting a picnic day spent riding a bus through colorful mountains and fields, has been published by Bir. This is a new addition to the 「Sagak Sagak Picture Book」 series, which offers young children a variety of reading experiences, and it takes on the theme of "vehicles," a topic children especially love. Following the great popularity of Naokata Mase's previous work, 『Choo Choo! Let's Ride the Train』, this picture book is sure to spark children's curiosity and nurture their imagination. ■ A Story Full of Anticipation and Excitement for Picnic Day "Pit-pat, pit-pat, drip drip drop, pitter-patter, swoosh swoosh, tip tip tap" — On the day of a planned picnic to a grape vineyard, rain begins to fall from the sky. Dressed in raincoats and rain boots, the children board the bus, hoping the rain will stop before they reach their destination. The bus passes through mountains ablaze with red autumn leaves, green pastures where livestock frolic, and a vast, open sea. The scenery beyond the bus window offers the children heading to their picnic even more sights to enjoy and delight in. As the rain gradually eases and disappears completely by the time they arrive, the children climb the mountain to pick armfuls of grapes and gaze up at a rainbow in the sky. With sweet grapes and a colorful rainbow, the children's picnic shines even brighter and more cheerful. The repeating sentence structures on each page create a rhythmic flow that makes the book's atmosphere even warmer and richer. Various rain sound expressions like "pit-pat" and "swoosh swoosh" come together to help children vividly imagine the rainy scenes as they read. This will especially help expand the vocabulary of 3- to 4-year-olds, who find joy in discovering and combining new words. ■ Unique Die-Cuts and a Three-Dimensional Rainbow That Unfolds "Vivid autumn mountains, clusters of grapevines, a colorful rainbow" — The final spread, where colorful pages revealed each time the bus passes through a tunnel come together to form a rainbow, is especially impressive. It captures at a glance how the rain that poured down throughout the journey gradually stops and the sky clears. The illustrator shapes the rainbow using a technique of cutting away the corner of each page and layering them progressively. The scene of the children smiling toward the rainbow upon arriving at the vineyard adds vibrancy to the color of the landscape. The visual emphasis on tunnels through cut-out holes in the pages is another delightful element of this picture book. The three-dimensional depiction of movement gives children reading the book the feeling of riding along on the bus to the picnic themselves. Each time the page turns and the bus passes through a tunnel, a new landscape unfolds before their eyes. Children can also build their observation skills by spotting the bus among other vehicles passing winding mountain roads and bridges over valleys. As they turn each page, sensing the tunnels and imagining what scenery the bus will pass next, children's imaginations will expand even further.