The Umbrella Maker’s Son

Eleven-year-old Oscar Buckle lives in Alley, an impoverished area of Roan on the rain-plagued planet Erde. Forty-seven types of rain befall the world, ranging from Flinner, described as “hesitant, reluctant, a mediocre drizzle,” to Blanderwheel, a dangerous rain of “epic, monsoon-like proportions.” Oscar’s life—which was already “gray, smoky, cloudy, and generally miserable”—grows more complicated when his father, an umbrella maker, takes him out of school to help the failing family business. Though his father specializes in making sturdy umbrellas, each suited for a different rain type, their competitors’ cheap alternatives keep snatching up would-be customers. Worse, his best friend Saige, who uses a wheelchair that she upgrades with her engineering prowess, is moving away. But when a seer suddenly appears in a previously unknown section of the local Night Market with a task for Oscar, he and Saige begin unraveling a terrible truth about Roan’s perpetual rain. This amiable fantasy by Leno (Sometime in Summer) is at its strongest when focusing on Oscar and Saige’s unshakable friendship and Saige’s inventiveness. Footnotes feature throughout, and a rain glossary concludes. Oscar is white; Saige reads as Black. Ages 8–12. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency. (June)