Ms Rain

Blue Rain is Precious’ teacher at the alternative school Each One Teach One.

Her outer characterization reveals that she has “long dreadlocky hair” (p. 39) and that she is “dark, got nice face, big eyes” (p. 40). She was born in California and now teaches reading and writing to young people who struggle with meeting the demands of the regular school system. We also learn that she is a lesbian (p. 81) and has a girlfriend who used to be a teacher (p. 43).

Miss Rain seems to be very dedicated to her job. She is very kind and patient when her students are struggling, as seen in her early reading session with Precious:

‘Just do the best you can, if you don’t know a word skip-’ She stop. ‘Just look at the page and say the words you do know.’

[...]

‘What do you think the story is about Precious?’

‘Peoples at the beach.’

‘That’s right.’ Miz Rain points to a letter, ask me what it is. (p. 54)

However, she can also be tough when her job requires it, as she does not accept it when her students talk back to her. We see this side of her through her early conflicts with Jo Ann...