The Plot In 5 Sentences Or Less:  Delsie enjoys so many things about her life on Cape Cod:  the fishing, the storms that roll in off the ocean, and the close knit community of her small neighborhood.  Still, she can’t help but think about her mom who left her years before with her grandmother and what the reasons may have been for this abandonment.  Her relationships are also changing as her good friend Brandi begins hanging out with an older, mean girl.  Delsie finds companionship with a boy new to the Cape that summer who seems to harbor as much hurt inside himself as she does.  As new information comes forth about her mother, Delsie finds that she must choose whether to hold on to pain and resentment or to focus on the smaller blessings in her life.

My Take:  I found Shouting At The Rain to be a solid entry in the field of realistic fiction for young readers.  As an adult reader, I enjoyed learning about life on Cape Cod and how the ‘Capers’ and the tourist get along.  Hunt has a talent for conveying blue collar life without making it overly sentimental or pushing it too far.  One character, for example, must move with his family into a campground every summer because their landlord rents their house out to tourists for more money.  It’s an indignity that is mentioned only a few times, but it really serves as an example of what Delsie and the people in her community grapple with.  I would recommend this book to any younger reader interested in a book on changing friendships and life in the summer.

One Interesting Note About The Author:  As she notes on her website, Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s first forays into creative writing were after the passing of her brother, who died shortly before his 4th birthday.   She “wrote songs about him for years–songs about when he was alive and songs speculating where he went after he died. I had always imagined him sitting on a cloud watching me.”  She admits that not a day goes by when she does not think about him.