Racing in the Rain

Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog 
by Garth Stein

Enzo is a dog that longs to be a human.   He tells the story of his life with his owner Denny.   In the first chapter, Enzo is an old dog suffering through life.  He then takes us back to the day he met Denny and walks us back to the present many years after they met.


While reading we discover that Enzo loves to watch TV and that Denny is an aspiring race car driver. We meet Denny's wife Eve and their daughter Zoe.  We watch Eve die and Denny battle Eve's parents for custody of Zoe. Throughout it all, Enzo offers his insights on life and tries to help Denny, Eve, and Zoe as much as a dog who lacks the ability to speak can.


I couldn't put the book down and read it's 278 pages over the course of three work nights after putting my children to bed.  I had to find out what happened to Enzo, to Denny, and to little Zoe.  I'm glad I finished because the last chapter, which is really an epilogue, is quite touching and turns the story's semi-sad ending into a magical/mystical moment.


Since the content is so heavy and the reading level is high I would only recommend this book to mature and competent fifth grade readers. When I first picked up the book I noticed the cute puppy on the cover and the age recommendation of 8-12 on the back so I figured it was a cute kids' story.  But as I read this book, and discovered the heavy duty topics covered, like: parental death, custody battles, and child neglect,  I kept wondering why this was published as a children's book and not for adults.  Then three quarters of the way through I final noticed a note on the front cover, "A Special Adaptation for Young Readers."  


While it is very deep, it is also a beautiful story and would make a great book for a parent and child to read together.  A teacher that I work with and admire, often says deep books "are a way for children to deal with the difficulties of life in the safety of a book."  Racing in the Rain does that.

First Published: 2011

Reading Level: Above average fifth grader - reading level and content

Genre: Realistic Fiction (Even though Enzo, the dog, tells the story everything that happened could have happened))

Locations: classroom library, Grace A. Dow, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble