In 1939, the town of Frostfree, Florida, is looking for a miracle. With droughts, frosts, sinkholes and the Depression, people could use a bit of hope. Indeed, hope does arrive in the form of Miss Millie Boze, the Rainmaker. Brought in from Oxford, Mississippi, Miss Boze doesn’t exactly make it rain; rain just seems to follow her around; she doesn’t know why, or how. Readers are likely to think the story line a bit thin if it’s all just about this rainmaker who comes and goes, until they realize the story isn’t hers; it’s a tale of miracles, mystery, change and 13-year-old Pidge, who must come to accept her family, herself and her place in the world. Though the plot is slight and slow moving, the candid and earnest voice of Pidge will linger, just as the rain clouds after the rainmaker’s departure. (Fiction. 10+)
