Rain Reign by Ann Martin

The book Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin is one which easily earns a special place among my favorites, and within my heart. Telling a somewhat bittersweet story of a girl and her dog, the book allows the reader an inside look into the life of Rose Howard, an eleven-year-old middle-schooler with a type of autism known as “Asperger's syndrome”. In this, we get the interesting experience of seeing into Rose’s mind, her words, thoughts, and overall thinking process laid out as the story is read from her voice. With a passion for homonyms, Rose goes about her day to day life with them practically the only thing on her mind. The other constant is Rain, Rose’s dog, whom she named so for the reason that it can be spelled in two separate ways, with two separate definitions: reign and rain. In other words, a homonym, which only contributes to the love Rose had for her dog. However, one day she must face some difficult times without her dog, and even greater difficulty of decisions to follow. A book of hardship, perseverance, love, and courage, it does well in depicting times in which reality can be exceptionally harsh and unfair, as well as times where it can be exceptionally softer, however bittersweet.