The Rain Catchers [Hardcover]

Jean Thesman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1991

Abandoned by her newly widowed mother, Grayling grows up in her grandmother's house, surrounded by women who must face the death of one of their own.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Grayling lives with her grandmother in a house full of women. Until now, the older woman's sensible, genteel rituals--afternoon tea, collecting honeysuckle-scented rainwater--have brought order and meaning to her granddaughter's childhood. Now Grayling is 14, and all that is changing: she must contend with a beloved family member's death, her own first romance and her mother's peremptory command to come live with her in San Francisco. The author of Rachel Chance has again created a cast of characters who are as memorable as they are quietly eccentric. Grayling's story is told with assurance and the Pacific Northwest setting is evoked in lucid, sensual writing. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-12-- Grayling, 14, lives with her grandmother, a great aunt, two women who are cousins, and a retired African-American doctor in her grandmother's house on the outskirts of Seattle. Along with her best friend, Colleen, who visits to get away from her difficult home life, Grayling enjoys this company of women who, daily, especially at teatime, turn their lives into stories. She likes the way in which they have captured the past to give each incident and person a beginning, a middle, and an end. Her own story has only a beginning and a middle, for after her father was killed by a robber shortly after she was born, her mother left her with the older women and went to San Francisco. She knows that the storytellers haven't been able to understand why this happened and thus can't finish her story with her. After her great aunt dies of cancer, Grayling goes to visit her mother who suggests that she is old enough to live there, and Grayling goes in hopes of finding out more of her story. When she has a strange and frightening interaction with a street person, she is finally able to prod her mother into revealing that she left out of fear, and that she lives her life by running away. Grayling realizes that she has become like her storytellers in wanting to address her fears and turn them into stories. This elegantly written, slow-moving novel grounds what could be melodramatic events with richly drawn characters and powerful prose. It is a beautiful story, with elderly characters who exhibit a loving and gracious reaction to life. Readers will be glad that Grayling can share it. --Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (March 25, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395553334
• ISBN-13: 978-0395553336
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,802,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mothers & Children

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book, April 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rain Catchers (Avon Flare Book) (Paperback)

This was a great book, about a girl who lives with her grandmother, aunts, and her great aunts. At her grandmother's house tea is served promptly at four o'clock, along with storytime. Everybody has a story at grandmother's house, with a begining, middle, and an end: except Grayling her story doesn't have an end, that she (or any one else for that matter) knows of. Grayling's story is lived as you read this book. This book has everything: family, friendship, and love. This was a great book that all of my friends and I have loved for years, and we all recomend it to you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Rain Catcher" by Jean Thesman, July 14, 2004

By 

Rien (Genesee Co. , MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rain Catchers (Avon Flare Book) (Paperback)

I'm not much of a book reader, but this book was a real page turner me. It reminded me of the times i spent with my grandmother down in Missouri visiting family & listening to stories from their past and from mine as well. This story touched me, and I cant wait for my little sister to read it as well. I recomend this book to everyone, especially those who are not much of readers like myself. It is so good it could be a movie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars stay with grandma or move in with mom, April 25, 2003

By 

"blastersmoker13" (Seattle WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rain Catchers (Avon Flare Book) (Paperback)

The Rain Catchers

By: Jean Thiesman

Grayling a 14 year old girl, who lives with her grandmother, in Seattle. Grays mom lives in California. Through out the summer gray has to go visit her mom. When she's there she has to make an extremely difficult decision. Whether she wants to move to California to be with her mom. Or stay in Seattle with her grandmother and the life she loves. But before she goes she has to know one thing. Why her mom left her 13 years ago to stay with her grandmother. Will gray find out? Will she stay with her mom? Read and find out.

I would recommend this book for 7-9 graders. There are some slow parts in the book but there are parts that keep you reading to find out what happened next.

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