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There Must be a Rainbow

Weather imagery provides an accessible route into a conversation about hope and change.

Suggested age: 4–6岁 · Reading level L2 · 12 illustrated pages

The sun rises over a small village in the hills.

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This book can be read page by page, heard with synthetic Voice 7 narration, downloaded and printed. Enable JavaScript for the interactive reader, or open the story pages below.

Weather imagery provides an accessible route into a conversation about hope and change.

Read all 12 story pages
The sun rises over a small village in the hills.
Nestled in the Kingdom of the Zulu is a magnificent place called the Valley.
Jabulile is happy.
A little girl called Jabulile lives here. Jabulile was always a happy child. She was also curious, and full of questions about life.

Everything fascinated her.
Jabulile and her mom and dad are happy, standing in a field.
Jabulile’s father was a mielie farmer. Her mother was a teacher. They taught her to dream big dreams. Jabulile’s biggest dream was to help people.
Jabulile thinks of a rainbow and is happy.
Everyone in the village was Jabulile’s friend, especially the elders. They taught her about the wise men and women who once lived in the Valley. Jabulile also wanted to be wise.
Jabulile and a man spot a big storm coming.
One awful day, the clouds began to gather over the Valley. Everything grew dark and grey. An ugly storm swept over the land.
The big storm blows the tops off the houses.
Great gusts of wind blew the roofs off the huts. All the animals lost their homes. It was a very sad day.
Jabulile cheers up the sad villagers.
The village folk cried, “What shall we do now?”

“All the crops are ruined!” cried the farmers.

“Our homes are gone!” said the elders.

All hope seemed lost. But Jabulile remembered something her wise father once told her.
She points to the rainbow behind the clouds.
Jabulile started speaking to the villagers. “The storm only hurts us,” she said, “because of the way we choose to see it. If you look up the sun is shining again. It is a new day.

“After every storm, there must be a rainbow!” she shouted excitedly.
A huge rainbow comes out.
Just then a glorious rainbow appeared in the sky.
The villagers are happy again.
The villagers saw the rainbow and they began to smile. It stood as a promise that the storm was over.
Jabulile smiles as the rainbow stretch across the horizon and over the village.
The villagers rebuilt their homes. Farmers planted new crops. The grass grew greener than ever before.
The sun rises once again over the village in the peaceful valley.
Once again there was hope and happiness in the Valley.

Creators and open license

Created by
Thulisizwe Mamba, Sinomonde Ngwane, Nerissa Govender

Source: Book Dash
Original: There Must be a Rainbow from Book Dash
License: CC BY 4.0

Original story text and illustrations unchanged. Website and printable layout prepared by Little Leaf; age, reading level and recommendation are editorial suggestions. Web and printable layout adapted by Little Leaf. Age and reading-level suggestions are editorial. Original stories and artwork belong to their credited creators. Website narration uses the selected synthetic Voice 7.