Right as Rain Lindsey Stoddard

My name is Rain, and we're moving from Vermont to New York City. Only three of us are moving, not four, but I can't talk about Guthrie. It'll upset my parents more, and they're fighting enough as it is. Plus, there's my secret that no one knows. Our new apartment is tiny, only two bedrooms and one bath, and I've never heard so much Spanish being spoken in one place. Frankie is the super's daughter, and at least she doesn't seem to hate me anymore. We both love to run, and she's talked me into joining her relay team at the City Championship. Until, I found out the race is on June 15. There's no way I can run on the day of The Anniversary. That's Guthrie's day. I don't want to let the team down, but that day will be painful.


This book was a finalist for the 2019 Cybil's Book Award in Middle-Grade Fiction. The main issue concerns how the Andrews family deals with the loss of a child. Mom wants to not talk about it and move on, dad's still in mourning, and Rain is somewhere in between. Rain tries to deal with the tragedy herself, but Frankie and running help her develop a support group. The school poetry project introduces another genre into the book, as Rain tries to sort out her feelings. Frankie is also dealing with the loss of someone close to her, although Reggie only moved away. The neighborhood is filled with many Spanish-speaking people, so Rain felt really out of place in the beginning. However, this setting provided many opportunities to share culture from the Dominican Republic. Spanish words were blended well into the dialogue, and cultural foods were available around the streets. The book points out that only 25% of marriages survive the loss of a child, so that's a big problem for Rain. The book touches on homelessness, and the community comes together to help one of its own. Overall, this was a fantastic book dealing with compelling problems, and I highly recommend you give it a shot.