Apple and Rain

What happens when you get the thing you’ve longed for, but not the way you pictured it? Apple Apostolopoulou has spent the last 11 years imagining her mother returning to the small English town where 14-year-old Apple lives with her grandmother. And then her mother reappears. Apple leaps at the chance to move back in with her mother, who is young and pretty, doesn’t scold or forbid, and understands how abandoned Apple feels. Then Apple meets a previously unknown sister, 10-year-old Rain, who has a doll she believes is a real baby. At first needy Rain is an annoyance, but the more time the girls spend together—usually because Apple is stuck babysitting Rain while their feckless mother is out—the closer they get. Crossan (The Weight of Water) capably portrays Apple’s mixed loyalties, the way writing poetry helps her admit her real feelings, and her burgeoning romance with a sweet and sensible classmate, Del. The ending, in which multiple dangers arise and are averted, is overly tidy, but readers, especially younger ones, will cheer for Apple and Rain. Ages 13–up. Agent: Julia Churchill, A.M. Heath. (May)