Apple and Rain

By Author / Illustrator

Sarah Crossan

Genre

Family & Home

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Bloomsbury YA

ISBN

9781526606761

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

02-05-2019

Synopsis

'All the time Mum was away, Eleven long years, I saved up my hopes Like little pennies in a jar.' Apple's mother disappeared years ago, leaving Apple with her nana and a lot of unanswered questions. But when she unexpectedly explodes back into Apple's life like a comet, homecoming is bittersweet. It's only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are.

This beautiful novel from multi-award-winning author Sarah Crossan explores family, friendship and reconciliation. It is a story about how messy, complicated and surprising love can be.

'This poignant, realistic tale is about learning to love and taking responsibility, and how poems can tell the truth' - Sunday Times Book of the Week' A story of the redeeming power of love. It's beautifully written and it made me cry but it also made me laugh' - The Bookbag. Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

Experience every emotion with the finest verse novelist of our generation...Don't miss Sarah Crossan's other irresistibly page-turning books Moonrise, One, Toffee, and The Weight of Water.

Reviews

Apple's mother left when she was a toddler, leaving her with her grandmother. Eleven years later she returns with another daughter, Rain, and turns Apple's world upside down.

Apple and Rain is beautifully written and the characters are believable. Written in the first person we see things through Apple's eyes, the appeal of a glamourous mother, the realisation that the most popular girl in class is a bit of a bully, the understanding of why her grandmother still treats her as a small child. Most importantly is her relationship with her new sister, a child who is trying to find security from a chaotic upbringing by treating her doll as a real baby.

Apple also discovers she has a talent for poetry, a gift that is encouraged by her new English teacher, Mr Gaydon. Her poems reflecting on her life show her developing confidence in herself, so that by the end she feels able to read a very personal poem in class.

Crossan's love of poetry, books and the importance of reading as a way of understanding yourself and the world, really shine through.

I very much enjoyed this book, my only niggle is that the feckless mother on whom the plot hinges is rather a cliche.

368 pages