The Umbrella Maker's Son

April 1, 2023

Gr 3-7-A quirky middle grade fantasy set on planet Erde, in a city called Roan and featuring Oscar, 11, cued as white, and his brilliant and fearless best friend Saige, also 11, who uses a wheelchair and is described as having brown skin. Roan is surrounded by a guarded wall; it rains so much there that there are 47 different types of names for it (wittily described in footnotes and in a glossary at the end). Oscar's family umbrella business is failing due to competition from Brawn Industries. To save money, Oscar's father tells Oscar he'll have to drop out of school to become his apprentice in a business Oscar has zero interest in. Then Saige informs him she's moving to a wealthier and less rainy part of Roan. At the mysterious Night Market run by the Farsouthians, who have elf blood, Oscar learns of a prophecy by a mysterious Farsouthian girl. He discovers the secret of Brawn Industries and how they are causing it to rain constantly in Roan. He and Saige set off on an exciting and harrowing journey to stop Brawn Industries as Saige's father resorts to dangerous lengths to defeat them. Enhanced by Orlu's black-and-white illustrations, this book starts out leisurely, giving readers time to appreciate descriptive settings, inventive foods, and types of rain as it builds to an action-packed climax. VERDICT Readers looking for an introspective, weather-driven fantasy focused on friendship, family, and community will enjoy this thoughtful story of young people fighting greed.-Sharon Rawlins

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2023
A boy finds himself in peril when he investigates the constant rain plaguing his city. The city of Roan endures rain daily: 47 types in all, from a gentle wib to a life-threatening blanderwheel. Eleven-year-old Oscar Buckle is an umbrella maker's son, which should come in handy. But business isn't exactly booming; people prefer the shoddy but inexpensive umbrellas manufactured by Brawn Industries over Bilius Buckle's durable but pricey creations. When Bilius informs Oscar he must leave school and become his apprentice, he is dismayed; he wants to carve wooden figures, not craft umbrellas. Even worse, Saige Cleverer, his best friend, is moving to the rich--and mysteriously sunny--part of town for her dad's new job with Brawn Industries. Is there something sinister behind the precipitation deluging Oscar's neighborhood? The worldbuilding, much of which occurs in wry footnotes provided by an unnamed narrator, relies heavily on the quirky names and vocabulary. Saige, a wheelchair user, lives up to her surname, designing a jet pack and a wheelchair flotation device to circumvent barriers. Readers may quickly guess what's up, and the ending is somewhat anticlimactic after the narrator's dramatic foreshadowing. However, Oscar and Saige's friendship is believably portrayed, and Oscar's relationship with his single dad is touching, as are his complex feelings about his mother's death. Oscar and his dad read White; Saige has brown skin, and secondary characters are racially diverse. Final art not seen. A fast-paced, heartwarming read. (glossary) (Fantasy. 8-12)

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May 1, 2023
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.

Starred review from April 15, 2023
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Though the sodden city of Roan has 47 different types of rainfall, from gentle "wibs" and "gennals" to catastrophic "blanderwheels," there are but two umbrella makers since Brawn Industries, manufacturer of flimsy, mass-produced throwaways, has driven out of business all the artisanal umbrella makers except young Oscar Buckle's struggling single dad, Bilius. So it is that, after Oscar finds hints that Brawn may somehow be causing the constant precipitation, he bravely sets out into the teeth of the worst blanderwheel in years in order to discover the truth. Wonderfully, he is accompanied by his best friend, Saige, who uses a wheelchair and proves a determined and resourceful ally through wild floods and other deadly hazards, in addition to facing her father, a Brawn executive with much to hide. The author's absolute addiction to editorial footnotes makes the pacing jerky, but she nonetheless concocts both an engagingly rich setting (with mysterious, shrouded elves popping into view occasionally to add fey touches) and an excitingly dangerous mission with opportunities aplenty for her two intrepid protagonists to show their heart, mutual loyalty, and courage. Frequent illustrations not seen in finished form.

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