Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

Rose Howard reigns in the world of prime numbers, homophones, and rules. Her autism makes it difficult for her to control the urge to yell in school. She lives with her father, a mechanic, who likes to drink at the Luck of the Irish pub after or during work. Fifth grader Rose lives with Rain, an abandoned dog that her dad found behind the pub, and the two are inseparable and left alone more than is good for a child. She's not too emotional and faces her father's shortcomings with stoicism. Her Uncle Weldon takes her to and from school and is more caring than her father. The family works through problems and issues until they reach a crisis.

The plot of this book is simple and somewhat hard to write about and not give away. It is predictable in one way but with some twists that don't make it boring. The theme of doing what is right and emotional attachments to pets and being responsible are implied by the father's actions versus Rose. It would make for good discussions. The father does the best that he can but does not know how to handle Rose's autism; add in a temper and you have a ticking time bomb character.

I do not think first person point-of-view works for books with characters that are autistic because the voice does not sound authentic in parts. In order to convey complex thoughts and inner monologues, the words the character uses is in contrast with the handicap being portrayed. While Rose speaks in short, terse sentences, sometimes her descriptions of her emotions sounds too sophisticated. This doesn't happen often, but when it does it is jarring and makes me notice the writing while pulling me out of the narrative. Maybe this was the author's intent. But that, along with the bombardment of homophones in the beginning, made me not love this one. I know of too many other books that are more memorable.

3 Smileys

Mikis and the Donkey by Bibi Dumon Tak

This is a quiet book that paints a picture of a young boy living in a Greek village who falls in love with his grandfather's newly purchased donkey. While the grandparents mean to use the donkey for working the farm, the boy treats it like a pet and takes great responsibility in its welfare. The grandfather laughs at Mikis sentimentality at first and treats him like a child. Later he gives him more and more responsibility in caring for the donkey because he cares so much for the animal. When the grandfather overworks the donkey the boy gets upset and brings it to the doctor for healing. He teaches the grandfather how to care for it and even convinces him to build a brand-new deluxe stable for it. When the boy dreams of owning a donkey farm, the grandfather is no longer laughing but helping him pursue his career.

Mikis age is never determined but he and his grandfather have differences that can occur between generations. At first the grandfather laughs at the boy who claims the donkey chose its name, but later grows to respect how he treats and cares for the donkey. He no longer looks at it as an animal that he can do whatever he wants to, but one that he needs to not abuse. Working animals that are used to perform human tasks can oftentimes be cruelly treated and the author actually wrote this book while staying on a donkey refuge on the Corfu Greek island. In the author's note he says that the name of the donkey is after the first one retired or rescued after becoming lame from overworked conditions.

There is not much character development and the illustrations are in black and white aiding the reader in visualizing the looks of a Greek village. The steep climbs, tiled roofs, and narrow streets with the Mediterranean Sea as the backdrop add to the flavor of Mikis life. A subplot hints at Mikis' teacher's romance with another man and Mikis romantic feelings for Elena, a girl in his class.  I finished this transitional reader in about 30 minutes. While it was sweet, I think it will absorb into the quicksand part of my books-I-can't-remember brain.

3 Smileys

Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings

Yay! I have a new series I can recommend to my guinea pig crazed students. Seems like a teacher always has one as a pet in the classroom and those "Humphrey" readers will like this Patrick Jennings book. While it is not from the point of view of the guinea pig, it has a hilarious narrator named, Rufus, who is in 5th grade. With a name like Rufus it is only reasonable that this protagonist desperately wants a dog. The problem is his dad's obsession for order and quiet along with his new job of working at home as an editor of an online golf magazine makes him twitchy and weird. Rufus's dad is absolutely, never ever, going to get a dog. They poop. They pee. They have fleas. When Rufus's mom gets a guinea pig for him because she feels bad he cannot get a dog, he and his dad are mad at her. When the guinea pig starts to act like a dog, Rufus begins to warm up to the idea, but he's afraid what his peers will think of him and his pet sow.

This humorous main character has a voice that reminds me of the snarky girl in "A Crooked Kind of Perfect" or the boy in "Skinnybones." This would make a great read aloud. The dialogue and internal monologue of Rufus is hysterical. He describes annoying adult attributes such as his mom treating him like a kid, "It's like living trapped inside Missus Rogers' Neighborhood. She can't seem to grasp that I'm not three years old anymore. I wonder if she ever will." He finds her crying (usually out of happiness) embarrassing and his dad too strict and weird about working at home. He describes his dad's installation of the front door keypad and cranky note: "There is no doorbell. Do not knock. To speak to residents, enter the security code, then press #. If you do not know the security code, please turn around and vacate the property." When Rufus gets home and finds out his dad had to listen to his screeching guinea pig all day, he says, "I could see Dad smiling in his creepy way. He has pointy canines, too. He looked pretty vampirelike." His dad was definitely out for blood that day. The whole book had me laughing out loud and engaged in the odd-duck characters.

Rufus is dealing with friendships and a bully at school. Murph is his best friend that loves to be the center-of-attention entertaining those around him. Murph loves to tease the gullible Rufus and he is popular with everyone at school. Dmitri, is the new kid that sees Rufus as a rival for Murph's attention and puts him down in order to build himself up in Murph's eyes. It doesn't seem to work as Murph just ignores Dmitri when he makes dumb comments. Eventually, Rufus and Dmitri come to a truce. He's still not the nicest guy but the reader has a better idea that his bully ways come from being insecure and parading money around to try and feel important.They aren't best buds, but Rufus isn't bothered by him at the end and understands he is the new kid who is afraid of not fitting in. Rufus's character arc shows him learning to accept himself and not worry so much what others think of him.

Like many people, Rufus envisions Murph as this perfect person with normal parents, a dog, and more friends than anyone in his grade. He compares his parents and makes them almost cartoonish in their oddities. It brought back visions of my thirteen-year-old daughter thinking we were the most dorky, uncool people in the world. When Rufus learns that Murph has problems, he realizes that outward appearances don't really show what is on the inside of people. Rufus becomes aware that he is afraid others will laugh at him and it gets in the way of making friends. By understanding that most of the students are trying to be popular and cool and are afraid like him, he is able to be happy with who he is whether it means having a pet guinea pig that acts like a dog or collecting Scrabble tiles and liking anagrams.

A subplot involves his mom inviting a girl with his family on a picnic that adds humor and shows the insecurities of kids when they become interested in the other sex. Rufus has no interest in this girl and she scares him, although he is mainly worried of what kids at school will say. But it also shows that budding interest between boys and girls and how awkward it can be getting to know others from the opposite sex. Rufus envies Murph's ease at talking to girls their age. This book is fun. This book is kooky. This book is weird. Take Rufus's description of his mom "...smiling from ear to ear. People use that expression a lot, but my mom really does smile from one ear to the other. The corners of her mouth were, like, a nanometer from her ears." Guaranteed to make you smile. Big.

4 Smileys