A beautiful, heartwarming, and sad story. I liked being inside Rose's brain, and understanding the way she viewed the world. ( )

I think this will be a popular book among middle-grade readers who love dog stories and heart-wrenchers. Rose is a memorable narrator who is easy to root for, even while her obsession with homonyms is potentially tiresome for readers (as it is for the people around her in the world of the book). I've criticized similar books for being too bummer-y and this one comes pretty close to my personal limit for how many bummers I can take in one story. However, I think Rose's self-referential narrative style (she'll say stuff like, "I'll talk about that more in the next chapter") adds a distinct flavor that makes this more readable. It's like Rose is trying to help you get through her story--like she knows she's a little annoying and her situation is depressing but she wants to encourage you to keep reading. The ending was somewhat abrupt and convenient Rose's borderline abusive father up and decides in the middle of the night to leave Rose in the care of her kind and understanding uncle. It makes sense and it doesn't--a really interesting point for young readers to mull over, but also pretty satisfying. And, I have to say, I felt a strong urge to hug my own dog tight after reading this book. ( )

Rose Howard is eleven years old in the fifth grade at Hatford Elementary. She likes homonyms, rules, and prime numbers. Rose loves loves loves her dog Rain, who has exactly seven white toes. On one level, this is a sad story about how Rose lost, then found, and then lost (again) Rain. On other levels, Rose's story is, of course, about much more: her diagnosis, her father, and the life Rose wins at, despite both. Rose is charming to me as a reader but I acutely feel the frustrations her single father fights with. His actions are not unobjectionable, however, and the ending is a relief for everyone, especially me. The hero in this story is Uncle Weldon; we should all strive to be a Weldon. This is a book for young readers, yet Martin manages to create very realistic and very human characters with complex facets that even adults wrestle with. It's exactly right for 5th to 7th graders. Highly recommended. (Actually, I can also see this becoming a Hollywood film, as long as they drop in a cute love interest somewhere, the shelter manager maybe, for Weldon. Don't forget voice-over narration for Rose.) ( )

I think I am drawn to books with characters who are on the autism spectrum because I have a grandson who is on the spectrum. I have taught many students that fell somewhere on the spectrum and it has been a pleasure. I was even more thrilled to see that I can keep this book on my shelf. If you don’t know what I am talking about go back and read my posts for January 19 and March 20.

I love the main character in this story. Rose has what I call autism quirks. She loves homophones. If you don’t remember what they are they are words that sound alike but have different spellings and different meaning. An example would be “write/right, or the title rain/reign”. I have met parent’s like Rose’s dad who don’t understand or want to understand their child’s “condition”. Often they are in denial that their child is different, or they blame someone else for their child’s condition. In Rose’s case she is often left at home while her dad goes out drinking. Then there is her teacher. I wanted to scream at her and ask why she was a teacher. I have loved teaching every autistic child I have had. I have learned so much from them. Rose has an ally, her Uncle Weldon. He is more like a father to her than her on dad. Of course she has her best friend in the world her dog Rain, who goes missing. Rain was a stray her dad brought home to her. This book is emotional and hard to put down. I would definitely recommend it to my students if for no other reason to help create empathy in them. ( )

this was an interesting read - it covers a lot of territory and doesn't really resolve the way i think most books like this would. by which I mean that martin doesn't take the easy road, nor does she let her characters or her readers off the hook. i think it's a stronger book for it.

i'm not sure how i feel about the main character and narrator's autism. i do think that it's good to read about what it might be like in someone's head, especially someone who thinks differently than many people, and it seemed, from her acknowledgements, that she had some help with this to make sure it was respectful and reasonable. i just never wanted it to be a gimmick and i was uncomfortable with that being a possibility, although in her defense it never read like that at all. it read like someone who took care to portray this 5th grader as she was, and to show what being different was like for her, and how she reacted to things, as well as a bit of what it was like for everyone else to be around her.

probably the most thought provoking part is the way, at the end, that she talks about her father. he is basically borderline abusive, but we really get the feeling that he is trying so hard to be a better father than his father was to him, and that he tries, but can't, understand rose. we see how much better uncle weldon is for her, and how he gets her in a way that her father doesn't, but we are made to see his leaving her at the end not as yet another terrible thing he does as a parent, but actually how it's him doing the right thing, the hard thing, and finally doing right by her. and really she does it with just a few short sentences, which is all pretty impressive.

i liked this, didn't love it, but do think there is a lot for kids to talk about here and hopefully learn from. she manages to really talk about a lot of things, and things that are worth exploring. ( )