Rainy [Hardcover]

Sis Deans (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

A vivid portrait of a girl with a hyperactive mind

Rainy isn’t thrilled about going to camp, away from her family and her beloved dog, Max. Without her family there to help, how will she stay focused when her thoughts start bouncing around her brain like ping-pong balls?

Once Rainy finds friends who can handle her extreme energy, she decides that camp is great. She’s even gotten good at keeping track of her things. But when bad news from home floods her head with too many thoughts, she forgets the rules and sets off on a dangerous journey.

With her signature mix of humor and heart, Sis Deans explores the hectic world of a girl learning to live with ADHD.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–By turns endearing and maddening, 10-year-old Rainy is ADHD to the core. As the book opens, she has just arrived at summer camp in Maine. From the start, her impulsiveness gets her into trouble with the staff. Her total self-absorption has an equally devastating effect on most of her peer relationships. Rainy's parents have chosen not to medicate her, but to work with her as best they can. This parameter, as well as the approach the author takes in having readers follow Rainy's thought processes, allows them to experience the ADHD mind. The minor characters seem one-dimensional, including one bad counselor and one good one. Rainy herself is primarily a sunny soul, but surprisingly profane (Christ Almighty!) when things go wrong. The plot is rather choppy, with strands that don't contribute much to the overall action, characterization, or theme. Offering more of a slice of life than a picture of personal growth through circumstances, the book has value in its fresh look into an alternate type of thought processing, making real both the experience itself and the related self-esteem issues that it brings.–Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Ten-year-old Rainy Tucker is an ADHD kid whose loving parents believe in helping her learn to live successfully with her condition rather than masking it with medication. Despite their best intentions, Rainy's summer trip to Camp Megunticook, designed to be a positive experience, proves to be a challenge both for Rainy and for her fellow campers and counselors. Rainy has a near-infinite supply of energy; she's athletic, competitive, and loquacious; has an intense interest in just about everything (in rapid succession); and doesn't require much sleep--all of which make for a trying group experience. Although aware of the effects of her behavior, and at times concerned, for the most part, Rainy retains an irrepressibly sunny disposition, until bad news from home compels her to take a solitary trek to the mountain grave of a girl who fell to her death more than 140 years ago. Rainy's habitual slang is distracting, but this serviceable and at times charming story features a girl who despite being different accepts her condition, loves people, and loves life. Pair this with Jack Gantos' books about Joey Pigza. Holly Koelling
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805078312
• ISBN-13: 978-0805078312
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,358,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I want to meet this author!, July 25, 2009

By 

Barb (Medicine Lodge, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rainy (Hardcover)

I LOVED this book narrated by a young girl with ADHD who's not on any meds and away from home by herself for the first time. We readers see things through her point of view and it's very touching. One of my favorite parts was when she said that after she and her father rode a roller coaster, she explained to him that the roller coaster ride was "what it feels like inside my head all the time. One jerky, jolting, zooming throught turning into another, the twists, the speed, the turns out of ... control."! I've read this author's "Racing the Past" and liked it too. Now I want to read her other books!

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rainy Day is good!, August 17, 2008

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Just Frazzled (From the Shop Around The Corner) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rainy (Hardcover)

Rainy is my role model.. She is a little scattered, you know, attention deficit etc.. She did really help me though, reminding that I have no reason to feel guilty for being a little imperfect in this universe.. Good book for adults as well as kids.