This book provides a different side of "crime" for a young boy named Moo Nelson. He is overweight, and is often mocked at school. To get away from the pressures, Moo likes to stay on the bridge, and watch the cars pass by.

However, once Moo witnesses a murder, he has to overcome faulty policemen, threatening criminals, and a need to protect his friend.

The book is written in a dialect hard to read, but I think that it shoves us into the life of this unfortunate boy. This is an interesting story, and is an eye-opener to crime. (

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jubjub_luver1 | Jul 9, 2009 |

1 student read this book and gave it a 4 for effectiveness and entertainment.
Comments: I think using the book Kissing the Rain would be a great book to use for this project. The problems the main character faces are not hard to depict and their solutions are obvious. It's also a fun read and an interesting book. It keeps you on the edge of your seat til the very last page! (

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MsZellner | May 7, 2009 |

The story about kissing the rain is a good story to read.
It about a boy name Moo Nelson that everybody treats him as a nobody
They call him names. There’s only one place that he likes to be in and it’s on a bridge
Where he stays there for hours. Until one day his life changed because he witnesses a car chase and a murder. Now everybody knows who Moo Nelson is now everybody talks with him.

almarosa | Nov 21, 2008 |

it's a good book. i thought it was slow in the middle but you get trough it. The book leavs you thinking about what you wuld have done if it happened to you and what happened in the end. (

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Gnork | Apr 19, 2008 |

The dialect, unfamiliar terms, and the author's need to endlessly repeat the monotonos thoughts and machine sounds that the character utters make this a slow and unappetising read. I did not care enough about the problems of this character to connect or want to know what happened to him. I did not get through nmore than 1/4 of the book. (

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dbanna | Feb 15, 2008 |

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Amazon.com (ISBN 043957742X, Hardcover)

Moo Nelson is fat--pale white blubbery fat--and he gets rained on every day at school for it. The jokes, the insults, the snide laughter, the beatings--all of it he calls the RAIN. Moo has learned to "umbrellarize" it, to walk through it with his eyes down. Because after school there is always the bridge--a place where he can where he can watch the cars go by on the highway and find some shelter from the RAIN.

That is until the day he sees two speeding cars, a crash, a scuffle, and a murder on the bridge. Moo is the only witness, and his story is not what the police want to hear. If he tells the truth, Keith Vine, a notorious bad guy, will go free, and Detective Inspector Callan will retaliate by sending Moo's father to jail for welfare fraud. If he lies, Vine will take violent revenge. The secret pressures mount on Moo from all sides--money and gifts, threats and beatings--until he chooses to kiss the RAIN, to take action against his tormentors.

Kevin Brooks again shows the brilliance that won him acclaim for Martyn Pig and Lucas. The story emerges through a murky stream of consciousness; Moo's working-class British voice swirls past the boulders of plot events. Moo is befuddled, hurting, and enormously touching as he struggles toward a dimly perceived Right Thing to Do, and misses the mark badly. This third YA novel from Kevin Brooks' is evocative of the best of PBS' Mystery! Series. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:52 -0400)

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