Contemporary Fantasy or Magical Realism
Whatever you call it, I loved Drizzle (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2010) by Kathleen Van Cleve. It reminds me a bit of Ingrid Law’s books–Savvy and Scumble.
11-year-old Polly lives on a farm where it always rains precisely at 1 pm on Mondays and tourists come to ride the giant umbrella. And that’s not the only thing odd about the farm and her family. You can imagine how things go at school. To top it off, Polly’s best friend is a chocolate rhubarb plant.
But then . . .
The rain stops. Polly’s brother gets ill. And they might lose the farm!
Polly’s a great kid. I was with her worrying, rooting for her, and even wanting to defend her.
I hope Kathleen is busy writing more imaginative fun stories. Here’s her website.
