Welcome to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web, I am super excited because I am apart of penguin’s Shouting at The Rain Blog tour! I cannot wait to share this wonderful book with you all!

Shouting at The Rain

Author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Publisher: Penguin Middle Grade

Publication date: May 7th, 2019

Rating:

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Fish in a Tree comes a compelling story about perspective and learning to love the family you have.

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Author Bios

Lynda Mullaly Hunt is the author of New York Times bestseller Fish in a Tree and Bank Street Best Book One for the Murphys. She’s a former teacher and holds writers retreats for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, impetuous beagle, and beagle-loathing cat.

Before I start the review, I just want to thank Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book!

The Review

disclaimer: I received a physical copy from the publishers for free. This has in no way influenced my review. Everything that I am stating is my honest opinion.

I really loved this book! It is one of the most well written middle-grade books I have read! Hunt expresses feelings and emotions so vividly and it is so amazing.

One of the first things I loved about this book was the cover and the title. I am usually someone who judges a book by a cover and this cover is exceptional. It’s so beautiful and poetic. The colors on the cover match perfectly and look amazing. The art is really pretty and I think it really relates to the book.

I also was really shocked while reading this book because I wasn’t expecting it to be this great! Writing a book from a Middle-Graders perspective can be really hard because they are no longer kids but they also aren’t quite yet full-fledged teenagers.  Especially if its a contemporary book. Most middle-grade books I have read have been huge disappointments, so it was refreshing to finally find a contemporary Middle-Grade book that represents its characters the right way.

Around the middle-grade age range, kids go through lots of changes and feelings, and sometimes books don’t represent it in the best way, it’s either a stereotypical ‘tween’ whos moody and has a bad attitude or a kid with no feelings at all, But Hunt finds the perfect in-between and its really awesome to see that.

my favorite characters

Delsie: Delsie is a sweet girl that is obsessed with tracking weather, going barefoot and making fairy houses with her best friend. But then her bestie decides to stop being friends with Des to fit in with another girl. We live in a society where girls (and boys, but especially girls) feel like they need to ‘grow up’ so fast. And by growing up they don’t mean physically, but looking grown up and feeling like they should have a right to do more “grown-up” things. Like dating and stuff. I love Delsie because she doesn’t let her friends change her and make her ‘grow up’ instead, she stays true to herself and her personality. 

I also love that Delsie lives with her Grandma. I never really see that in modern books and It’s really interesting and probably nice for kids that live with there grandparents. In the beginning, Delsie feels like an orphan and wishes she had a real family, but in the end, she realizes that she has all the family she needs, her grandmother, her caring neighbors, and her new found friends, and even though her family may be different, she still is loved.

Ronan: Ronan, a well-known trouble maker in Cape Cod, also is somewhat orphaned, His mom left and he is now struggling to adapt to living without her. When Delsie’s friends ditch her, Ronan helps Del and becomes her friend.

I really love Romans personality and how he overcomes being judged in the past and becomes a new person who is not always causing trouble.

Amiee: Amiee is Delsie’s theatre obsessed friend who just got cast as Annie in her theatre’s play, which causes her to not be around for Delsie that much. With her bubbly personality, she always finds a way to cheer someone up.

little things i loved

Hunts writing style, it’s really amazing.

Del’s quirky neighbors

Del’s grandma

 Delsie and Ronan’s duo! I loved how they were just friends and the author didn’t push them being in a relationship.

The town- All the shop names and restaurants sounded really cool

 the cover and the title

Del being obsessed with the weather, It’s a really unique and great character detail.

little things I didn’t love

Honestly, there wasn’t really anything I didn’t like!

I love the characters and would love to have a sequel which is set in the same town with the same characters but the main character is like a different person from the town.

Final Thoughts

This was a unique and incredibly written book and I am so happy I had the chance to read it!

Final Rating:

MoodBoard

I was able to make a mood board for the book!

I love how this turned out! It’s so cute!

Thanks for reading! Make sure that you check out this incredible book!

Bye for now,