Rainmaker - Hardcover

Jackson, Alison

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590783093 ISBN 13: 9781590783092

Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, 2005

Synopsis

The year is 1939 and Frostfree, Florida, has not seen rain in months. If the orange groves don't get some moisture soon, many families, including Pidge's, could lose their farms. But if there's one thing this town has plenty of, it's hope. Right now their hope rests in a sixty-seven-year-old Rainmaker from Mississippi who claims she can coax rain from the sky. Pidge has hopes of her own, too: hope that her brother, Little Jack, will stay out of trouble; hope that her father will lose interest in the pretty church organist; hope that she can gain some understanding of her mother's death. With clarity, and compassion, Alison Jackson explores the life-changing summer of a young girl on the brink of adolescence.

About this title

About the Author

Alison Jackson is a children's librarian and has published eight books for children. She resides in Orlando, Florida, with her husband, Steve (a computer analyst), and her two children, Kyle and Quinn.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7–Frostfree, FL, is experiencing the worst of the Great Depression. Pidge, her father, younger brother, and aunt are better off than some since they at least still own their farm and can put food on the table. Without some rain soon, however, none of the orange crops will grow. When one of the farmers sees a story about a "rainmaker," a lady who brings rain wherever she goes, the farmers pool their savings; Pidge's father mortgages his farm to provide the bulk of the money to bring her to town. When she shows up, they discover that she's an elderly, deaf woman whose rain ceremony consists of sitting on a quilt, reading the paper, and eating strawberries. Has the town been swindled, as Doc Wheaton insists? During this same summer, Pidge is dealing with other personal issues, including finding out what caused her mother's death, worrying about what will happen if her father marries the woman he has started seeing, and wondering why she suddenly becomes so flustered when she sees her friend Noah. All the story lines converge at the end to reinforce the theme–accepting change as a part of life, even when one doesn't like it. This story, loosely based on an incident reported in the Orlando newspaper in 1939, provides a good companion to other period pieces set in Oklahoma or California, such as Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust(Scholastic, 1997).–Diana Pierce, Running Brushy Middle School, Cedar Park, TX
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About this edition

• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1590783093
• ISBN 13: 9781590783092
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176