Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Rain Reign

I’ve heard a lot about this book, so I’m glad I finally had a chance to read it. And it's a dog story! I love dog stories. I read this one as an e-book from my public library. 

Here’s the Amazon description:

Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms. She’s thrilled that her own name is a homonym, and she purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose’s rules of homonyms, is very special. Not everyone understands Rose’s obsessions, her rules, and the other things that make her different – not her teachers, not other kids, and not her single father.

When a storm hits their rural town, rivers overflow, the roads are flooded, and Rain goes missing. Rose’s father shouldn’t have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search.

Hearts will break and spirits will soar for this powerful story, brilliantly told from Rose’s point of view.

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin, Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan, 2014

My Take:

I’ve read several middle grade books about kids with autism now, but even so I still enjoyed this one. At the beginning, I was a tiny bit annoyed by Rose’s frequent homonym mentions, but I appreciated how they brought out her personality and drew the reader in to the way she thinks. I liked the fact that her father seemed to be struggling with how to interact with her too, and wasn’t portrayed as super-supportive or having all the answers. It was an emotional story and though sad in places, I was left feeling hopeful for Rose.

As a writer, I thought the ending was interesting. Everything wasn’t wrapped up to be neat and tidy with everything happily ever after. It left me wondering about the characters and what would happen next, not in a “setting up a sequel kind of way”, but in just thinking about what might happen.  

Opening Line:

“I am Rose Howard and my first name is a homonym.”

Quotes:

“On Mondays Mrs. Liebler chooses two kids from our class to be my Lunchroom Buddies for the week. She keeps a list of buddies so that everyone gets the same number of turns. Usually when she announces the buddies no one says anything.”

“All dogs have smart noses, but Rain’s must be especially smart.”

 “I can’t think. I put my hands over my ears and jump and up and down on my bed.”

Other Info:

Ann M. Martin lives in the Hudson Valley in New York state with her cats. She has been a children’s book author since 1983.

She is well-known for writing The Baby-sitters Club series.

On TeachingBooks.net, Ann M. Martin talks about how Rain Reign came to be.

For a list of her many published books, visit Ann M. Martin at the Scholastic website. You can learn more about Ann M. Martin on her Facebook page.

Looking for more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday books? Visit Shannon Messenger’s blog for a list of bloggers reviewing great books today! Shannon is the founder of Marvelous Middle Grade Monday and the author of the middle grade novels, Keeper of the Lost Cities and Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities #2).