In her ninth Isla of Adventure chapter book, Isla Verde and her friends prepare for an incoming rainstorm. It’s a rainy day on the island of Sol. At first, Isla Verde doesn’t mind a little bit of gloomy weather. It’s part of nature’s wonders, after all! As the drizzle becomes a heavy downpour, Isla and her friends decide to have a slumber party. But in the morning, they realize that the storm left quite a mess. Luckily, stormy days are easily weathered with friends. And Isla’s got plenty of those! With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Isla of Adventure chapter books are perfect for beginning readers. Dela Costa loves nature, discovering new things, and spending too much time speaking to animals even though they don’t respond…yet. She lives in New York. Ana Sebastián is an illustrator living in Spain. She studied fine arts at University of Zaragoza and Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux, specializing in digital illustration and completing her education with a master’s degree in digital illustration for concept art and visual development. Her work focuses on color and light. She mainly works with her iPad Pro at her studio but sometimes you can find her working at coffee shops, in the mountains, or near the sea. Ana also likes to work with colored pencils and watercolors. When not drawing, she will probably be reading, practicing yoga, or traveling. CHAPTER 1   IT’S RAINING! IT’S POURING!        “Rain is going to fall! Rainfall is coming!” a flock of seagulls cried. “ Squawk, squawk! ”   Isla Verde looked up from her library book. Seagulls flew in circles above the calm ocean water.   To everyone else on the beach, the squawks sounded just like any other bird calls. But Isla had a secret.   She could speak to animals, and they could speak right back!   Ever since she could remember, she’d made friends with all sorts of critters. Isla knew turtles, friendly snakes, birds, and even tiny tree frogs.            “Hmmm,” Isla hummed. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to rain. The sky is clear.”   “Rain?” Tora Rosa groaned. “It can’t rain! My dolls’ sandcastle will get all droopy.”   Isla looked at the impressive sandcastle Tora had built. It was decorated with shells, seaweed, and a few dolls.   Fitz, Isla’s gecko best friend, looked up from his sunny spot.     “Now that’s a sturdy castle,” he said. “Nothing is knocking it down! Unless it rains, of course.”   Isla giggled.   Tora was Isla’s good friend and neighbor. When she first moved to the island of Sol, Tora hadn’t really liked hanging out with animals. But as long as Isla let Tora know what the animals were saying, it really wasn’t too bad.        Three small hermit crabs crawled by with their claws in the air. “Hey, Isla! Did you hear the seagulls? We’re going to have a rain shower!”   Isla shrugged. “I believe them. Birds are pretty good at telling us when the weather is about to change. But the sky just seems so blue.”   “Maybe they’re wrong this time,” Tora said as she added small shells on top of her castle towers.   “Maybe,” said Isla.     She went back to reading her book. But just as she reached a new chapter, Isla felt a drop on her nose.   Drip. Drip. Drip.   Dripdripdripdrip!   In a blink of an eye, it began sprinkling.   “Or the seagulls were totally telling the truth,” Isla admitted.   Tora tried to cover her sandcastle. “Oh, no! My castle! Fitz, can you help?”   “I’m on it!” shouted Fitz as he scrambled into Tora’s heart-shaped beach bag.     “Hey, that’s not helping,” said Tora.   “Of course it is,” said Isla. “He’s protecting your snacks… just not from him.”     Tora peeked into her bag and saw Fitz munching on some banana slices.   “I guess it’s better to eat them before they get wet,” she said.   “See? She gets me!” cheered Fitz with his mouth full.   Isla giggled and then made a new plan.   “Let’s go back to my house,” she said. “We can enjoy the rain from inside with a nice slice of papaya cake.”   Tora nodded. “Oooh, I love staying dry and papaya. Let’s go!”