rose soini

Title: Hello, Beach! (Hello! series, book 3 of 4)

Author: Katherine Pryor

Illustrator: Rose Soini

Publisher/Year: Schiffer Kids/2025

Format: Hardcover (board book)

I’m pleased to introduce the third book in the Hello! series of board books by author Katherine Pryor and artist Rose Soino, Hello, Beach! This simply sweet, adorably illustrated book for the littlest book lovers follows Hello, Garden! and Hello, Rain! and precedes the fourth book Hello, Snow!, which is a 2025 Mom’s Choice Award Gold Winner. All four books from Schiffer Kids publishing, which are available now, feature the same fun-loving diverse family enjoying time together through the seasons in the great outdoors. I previously reviewed Hello, Rain! here on Frog on a Blog, and you can read that review HERE.

It’s currently 19 degrees F here in snow-covered upstate NY, the perfect time to showcase a book that is sure to bring the warmth of summer into your home. In Hello, Beach!, readers follow the family from heading to the water, discovering clams, launching a boat, watching the tide retreat, and finally saying a sleepy good night to the beach while the sun sets over the water.

Hello, Beach! offers a gentle rhyme scheme, the same as the other books in the series, along with the illustrator’s cute watercolor pictures, which depict lots of beachy fun, such as splashing toes, circling seagulls, sandcastles, scuttling crabs, and more. There are plenty of animal and nature scenes for parents to point out and for kids to admire.

All four together make a perfect set of “seasons-themed” board books.

Starfish (or sea stars) are not actually fish at all; they’re invertebrates, which means they have no backbone. These fascinating creatures can regenerate (regrow) missing or damaged limbs!

Title: Hello, Rain!

Author: Katherine Pryor

Illustrator: Rose Soini

Publisher/Year: Schiffer Kids/2024

Format: Board Book

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a board book here on Frog on a Blog. But board books are essentially picture books, just in a different format. They’re for the littlest book aficionados, infants to about three years old. Thanks to their extra-sturdy covers, board books hold up well in the hands and mouths of these future readers.

Today, I’m pleased to share, on a rainy Wednesday here at home, Hello, Rain! by Katherine Pryor, with illustrations by Rose Soini. Hello, Rain! was published by Schiffer Kids in 2024. It’s the second in the “Hello,” series, following Hello, Garden!, by the same author and illustrator, which received the IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) Benjamin Franklin Gold Award in 2022 for its age category.

Both books feature the same diverse family. And, as you can see from the covers, the kids are the stars. In Hello, Rain!, readers follow the family as they set off to play in the rain. The children enjoy splashing in puddles and drawing in mud until a thunderstorm drives them all back to the safety and comfort of home where a family story time, followed by a bubble-filled bath, proves to be the perfect way to end the day.

copyright © 2024 by Katherine Pryor and Rose Soini

The rhyming, rhythmic text adeptly uses short sentences and simple noun/verb pairs to create mood and movement throughout the story. The colorful illustrations, which I believe are watercolor, depict sweet kids and lots of outdoor scenes, including birds, squirrels, trees, and plants. Parents will have fun pointing out a sleeping mouse, baby robins, and curious worms. What I like most about this book is just the pure joy the kids express while playing outside in nature.

Hello, Rain! is a great choice for the little book and nature lovers in your life!

On average, American Robins lay 3-4 eggs in a clutch but only 1 egg per day. They also typically lay more than 1 clutch of eggs throughout the nesting season.