Their house burning down left few choices for the Finkle family. Taking over their recently deceased Uncle Harrys general store in Finkleton was their only option. Arriving in the small England village after hearing fathers stories of Uncle Harry and his store, each of the three children were intrigued just enough to be looking forward to exploring everything. After a modicum of unpacking, they all wanted to look at the store and the house, Jack was the oldest and was looking forward to learning more of the workings of the store and finding the office in disarray, organizing was his first priority. The middle child and only girl was an avid reader and since the fire had consumed her store of books, she was only interested in the promised room of books. Once there, she quickly figured out how they were organized and selected her first nights reading material with the promise to return for them all at some point. As the youngest, Richard was trying to find his own place when he found something much more interesting. The lever under the counter seemed to control the rain. Astonished at his find, Richard wanted this to be his secret from everyone, but as the consequences started making themselves clear, her realized he needed hop to make sure Mr. Bad Guy never found out the true secrets of the success of Finkleton.

What an adorable story. Some of the dialogue and wording felt a bit awkward at times, but I was hooked from the start and simply enjoyed it all the way to the end. While it was set approximately 100 or so years ago, this is one of those timeless fantasies. Simply adored all the children even with their sibling rivalry and teasing. This would be a fun book to read with younger kids (5-8) or to let older kids (8 and up) read on their own. It makes for a wonderful story, creative with some great characters, truly a story for all ages.

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