Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin Review

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
Published by Feiwel & Friends
Publish Date: October 7, 2014
240 Pages
Source: Publisher
Find It: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N 

Rose Howard has OCD, Asperger’s syndrome, and an obsession with homonyms (even her name is a homonym). She gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose’s rules of homonyms, is very special. Rain was a lost dog Rose’s father brought home. Rose and Rain are practically inseparable. And they are often home alone, as Rose’s father spends most evenings at a bar, and doesn’t have much patience for his special-needs daughter.

Just as a storm hits town, Rain goes missing. Rose’s father shouldn’t have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search. Rose will find Rain, but so will Rain’s original owners. (excerpt from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:  I have to say that it was a no-brainer that I would read Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin as soon as it became available to me – like a ton of you, I have been a fan of this author’s books forever and still love them. The thing is — I had no idea the JEWEL of a book this would be when I began it. It is the perfect combination of heartbreaking and heartwarming, and it is fantastic.  


Meeting Rose Howard is such an interesting trip. She tells us a story in this book, and she is very forthcoming about her obsession fascination with homonyms; she can see prime numbers where other people see only other words or other people. It is incredibly obvious that Rose has obsessive issues with sticking to the rules and perhaps even more with other people not sticking to rules. Rose’s ability to function at such a high level with her Asperger’s is both positive and negative at times — as someone that does not routinely cross paths with a person on the autism spectrum, this story meant several really great things to me. 


A few of these things:

1. Rose has a large heart. She feels everything so, so much and she understands far more than people give her credit for. Even so, she has an extremely difficult time managing her reactions when she becomes overwhelmed. I feel like Rose’s Uncle Weldon may understand her more than anyone else — for this reason, I especially loved their interaction and special relationship. 
2. Rose attends a regular classroom in a regular school but the difference between Rose and her peers is that she has an aide that stays with her at all times because of her frequent uncontrolled outbursts and obsessive behaviors. Having an aide embarrasses Rose because it is a constant reminder that she is different AND YET it is necessary for the (often)times that Rose has trouble in the classroom. 
3. Rose has a relationship with her father that is emotionally exhausting. Rose loves him deeply and wants to make him proud – this is obvious by how well she takes care of him – but she has difficulty compensating for the fact that taking care of a child “like her” is stressful for him, particularly because of his single-father status and because of his own childhood which is revealed throughout the story. 
4. Rose’s relationship with her dog Rain is incredible in the very best ways – both young readers and adult readers like myself that have very little-to-no experience with autism can see how a pet can be extremely beneficial to someone like Rose.