There is so much good in this story. I just loved Rain and her tenacity. She has big problems for which she models effective responses and solutions. She makes plans that are actually quite clever to get her depressed dad out of his room, get her drifting-apart parents talking, and to build friendships and community -- to name only a few. She is an outsider who relates to The One and Only Ivan, yet she and other good folks in her life show us ways to reach out for connection and to appreciate our differences. The gardening metaphor is extended in characters, conflict and resolution quite brilliantly. The ending is happy and positive, very satisfying but also very realistic. I would recommend this book to all girls who like to read about friendships and relationships, and especially to those who run or are in sports. ( )

Book 7 of 7 for the Cybils Awards reading... stay tuned!

Trigger Warnings: Grief, Parents Fighting

Rain is positive that her older brother Guthrie's death nearly a year ago is her fault, but she hasn't told anyone. Meanwhile, her father won't leave the closed bedroom door and her mother is constantly hustling around. To change their scenery, the family moves from their suburban life in Vermont to the urban, multicultural world of Washington Heights in New York City.

Rain never imagined how different life in the city would be: there are so many people in one place, different cultures, homelessness, and change. With her mom and dad fighting more than ever and the anniversary of Guthrie's death around the corner, Rain is determined to keep her family together.

There is a lot in this small book: a family dealing with the death of a teenager, feelings of being on the outside of a diverse community, gentrification and change, homelessness, adjustment to urban life, being the new kid, and more. The relationships in this book are authentic, complicated, and perfectly written. I never felt like any interactions were forced or just completely out there.

Lindsey Stoddard wrote Rain as a strong, resilient, and empathetic preteen who is dealing with grief. This book does remind me of Bridge to Terabithia (my first book where it's not 100% a happy ending). It takes a serious issue and doesn't sugarcoat it, but shows young readers a tough subject in a way they can understand and relate to.

The only thing I kept thinking about that I would like to know is how in the world Rain was able to crack her knuckles as often as she did! I crack mine pretty frequently but I felt like Rain would do it every few pages. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. Especially once I was able to really sit and read through the pages.

I would highly recommend this middle grade book. Middle graders will especially connect with this book and enjoy it, but adults as well. ( )

Passable story about a young girl (and her parents), moving to Washington Heights from Vermont, trying to deal with the grief of her older brother's death, which is painfully slowly revealed in chapters entitled "That Night." What I liked about the book was Stoddard's vivid descriptions about the vibrant, diverse, multicultural neighborhood in New York City, so different from her previous life. Of course, there is the usual trope of being the new kid, trying to fit into a new place and school, while her parents' relationship is coming apart, especially her father. 2.5 stars, rounded up. ( )

children's middlegrade fiction
6th grade white girl moves from small town Vermont to NYC where she feels out of place amongst her Spanish-speaking neighbors. She really just needs someone to talk to about her parents possibly getting divorced/separated and about the role she thinks she played in the events leading to her older brother's death by random car accident.
I skipped 50 pages of this because although the characters were perfectly sweet and felt genuine enough, the author kept inserting stupid, pointless short 'teaser' chapters that were supposed to make the reader think Rain did something terrible on 'that night.' If you're going to make the reader toggle between the present and the past, you need to have each part of the story unfold along the way, don't just keep withholding all the story to 'keep it interesting' and then not even have a very interesting story to reveal at the end. It would have been fine to just keep the story in the present and have Rain be reluctant to talk about it. So much energy was put into keeping that secret that it took away from the feelings of grief and loss, which were actually well-written parts (the different ways each character showed and shared their sadness). So there was quite a bit that was good, but definitely wouldn't be my pick for the Newbery, or even a starred review. ( )