Waiting for the Rain

Tengo is the main character of the book. He is a black South African child, around the age of ten when the book starts, and lives with his family in the kraal on the Oubaas's farm. He desperately seeks a way for whites and blacks to live equally, thereby ending apartheid. However, in Part Two of the book, he must choose which he wants more: to get an inferior education given by the whites, or to join the violent liberation with the majority of the black population.

Frikkie is Tengo's best friend at the beginning of the book. They have been friends from the time they could walk. He is a white Afrikaner and spends his school holidays at his uncle's farm, playing soccer and running around with Tengo. He wants everything to stay the same and does not accept change.

Oom Koos is the Oubaas, a senior, of the farm. He is Frikkie's uncle and oversees everything that goes on in the farm. He does not want the black protesters to gain power.

Tant Sannie is Frikkie's aunt and Oom Koos's wife. She thinks education is wasted on blacks, and is appalled by the idea of Tengo going to school in Johannesburg.

Selina is Tengo's mother. She does much of the housekeeping for Tant Sannie, such as washing the dishes and clothes, and preparing food for Oom Koos and Tant Sannie.

Timothy is Tengo's father. He is the boss-boy of the farm which means he was appointed by Oom Koos to manage the farm.

Tandi is Tengo's sister. She is constantly sick [has tuberculosis] and stays in the kraal.

Emma is Tengo's classmate. She helps Tengo in different subjects in school.

Joseph is Tengo's cousin (he is fourteen in Part One). He is the first one to introduce the reality of apartheid to Tengo, and later appears as a crucial turning point in Tengo's decisions about his life.

Sissie is Frikkie's sister who cannot abide life on the farm. She has been taught to accept apartheid. Constantly bothers Tengo to make him feel more like a servant. Real name is Henrietta.

Rev. Gilbert is a white liberal who tutors Tengo to help him pass his matriculation exams and get to college. Appears in Part Two.

Matilda is Selina's sister that works for the Millers as a housekeeper, like Selina.

Elijah is a teenage tribal South African who lives in the township of Johannesburg. Fights apartheid with violence.

Mrs. Miller is a white living in Johannesburg. She and her family, though nicer than other masters, still accept apartheid and do nothing to change it.

Claire Miller is the daughter of Mrs. Miller, a white liberal who feels sympathy for the blacks. However, she cannot do much to change it.

Lettie is Tengo's grandmother. Elijah is Tengo's friend who was put in jail for activism.

Gordon won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 1988 for this book.[1] The New York Times review was less than favourable, saying that although the story is "balanced nicely," and "avoided the great pitfalls of such a story - caricature and sentiment", it left much to be desired:

The characters themselves, and their situations, often feel invented. A Novel of South Africa is the subtitle. One could add, for American Students, so obviously destined is this book for the American market. South African terms give way to American ones: mealies to corn, cross to mad and so forth. Glosses are supplied everywhere. There are, in addition, some serious discrepancies for the knowledgeable reader. How, for instance, does a black child growing up speaking Afrikaans as his white language come so easily to read and speak English from books?

— Lynn Freed, The New York Times review, December 1988.[2]