In 2035, a journalist returns to São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, to interview a renowned inventor who happens to be one of his childhood friends. As he looks out over the metropolis, memories resurface of a rainy summer twenty-five years earlier, when four children decided they could no longer ignore the flooding that disrupted life across the city. What began as a conversation among friends soon evolved into a series of imaginative ideas for collecting, reusing, and managing rainwater.

Written by architect and designer Michel Gorski, Beyond the Rain combines storytelling, environmental awareness, and innovation. By placing children at the center of the solution, the narrative celebrates curiosity, creativity, and civic engagement, showing how young people can contribute meaningfully to the challenges faced by their communities.

The illustrations by Fernando Vilela, an award-winning artist recognized with distinctions including the Jabuti Prize and the FNLIJ Award, were created using his signature stamp-printing technique. The artwork brings a distinctive visual identity to the book, blending urban landscapes, natural elements, and graphic experimentation that reinforce the story’s message: cities and nature can coexist in more sustainable ways.