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Librarian’s Review of Publisher’s Advance Copy Date: March 1, 2015 Author: Martin, Ann M. Title: Rain Reign Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Publication Date: 2014
ISBN: 978-0-312-64300-3 Nonfiction:
Easy:
Pages: 223 Fiction: X
Price: $ 16.99
Genre/Dewey Classification: Realistic Fiction
Theme or Topic: dogs; Asperger’s Syndrome; lost articles; lost and found possessions Grade Range: Grades 4-7 Quality Rating X
Purchase Rating Outstanding Above Average Average Below Average
X Highly Recommended Recommended Additional Selection Not Recommended
Comments/Evaluation: Booklist (starred review), 08/01/14; Horn Book Magazine, Sept/Oct 2014; Kirkus Reviews, 08/01/2014; Publishers Weekly, Annual Children’s Starred Reviews, 2014; School Library Journal, 08/2014. Tenderly and authentically told, Rain Reign has won critical acclaim for good reason. The narrator, autistic but highly functional eleven-year-old Rose Howard, is obsessed with prime numbers, homonyms and rules. An outsider at school and mostly ignored at home by her single, hard-drinking and only partially- employed father, Rose counts on her loving relationships with her uncle, Weldon, and her dog, Rain. Rain came into Rose’s life when Rose’s father brought her home as a stray. However, during a severe thunderstorm, Rose’s father lets the dog out without her collar, and she disappears. It turns out that Rain is microchipped and belongs to another family. Rule-bound Rose feels compelled to find Rain’s rightful owners and reunite them with Rain. More than the compelling storyline, Rain Reign is exceptional because of the nuances of relationships that Rose is faced with navigating: misunderstandings with classmates due to Rose’s lack of social awareness, continual squabbles with her father, largely due to his own stress and lack of understanding of Rose’s autism. But not all interactions are negative; Rose’s tender and mutually affectionate relationship with her uncle is a joy to read, and her devotion to Rain is poignant. Winner of the inaugural Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children and the Schneider Family Book Award, this novel should find a prominent place in all elementary and middle school libraries.
Annotation: Struggling with Asperger's, Rose shares a bond with her beloved dog, but when the dog goes missing during a storm, Rose is forced to confront the limits of her comfort levels, even if it means leaving her routines in order to search for her pet.
Prepared by: Ronda Murray, Librarian
Campus: Walsh Middle School
