We all have our own sets of coping mechanisms--11-year-old Rose Howard needs unbroken rules, prime numbers and homonyms to get through her days. And, since last year, she also needs the yellow-furred dog she named Rain (homonyms: rein and reign).
Much to her father's frustration, Rose is on the high-functioning autism spectrum. He doesn't understand why she can't just keep it together, stop talking incessantly about homonyms, stop shouting sequences of prime numbers, stop asking him so many questions. So when he's not fixing cars at the J & R Garage, he's down the street drinking beer at the Luck of the Irish. When he comes home quiet or his eyes get "black and hard," Rose and Rain both know to keep their distance.
The bittersweet tale, recounted by Rose in a purposeful storyteller's style, reveals a young girl trying her best to keep it together. Some of her challenges are specific to her autism, but her desire to fit in and be accepted is universal. Rose is quite likable once her schoolmates see that underneath her obsessions and seemingly robot-like outbursts she is smart, sensitive and eager to please. Even readers may be put off by homonyms ad infinitum at the beginning (Rose warns her audience about this), only to be drawn in as the pages turn. Rose's soft-spoken Uncle Weldon is one of the few in her charmed circle: he listens, he encourages her, and he drives her to and from school every day. The nuanced portrayal of that solid, loving relationship is sure to have everyone wishing for an Uncle Weldon of his or her own.
When a devastating storm rips through the small community of Hatford, N.Y. (the author's note says that Hurricane Irene of 2011 inspired this story), the holes in Rose's life become that much more jagged. The rising floodwaters bring out the worst in her father, isolate her from her guardian-angel uncle, and even carry away Rose's beloved Rain. Newbery Honor author Martin's clear, true, immediate writing places readers dead-center in the emotional maelstrom with Rose, who is much more than her father sees and braver than she knows. --Karin Snelson, children's book editor and reviewer
Shelf Talker: An autistic girl with a penchant for homonyms steals (steels) hearts in Newbery Honor author Ann M. Martin's latest novel.