Fortune's Magic Farm by Suzanne Selfors

This is a cute one! Imagine living in a town where it always rains and everything is gray - including the people... (OK, it does remind me of living in Washington state, but I moved and there's sun here now!)

Everyone works at the factory. The lady who owns the boarding house where Isabelle lives is awful. She hardly feeds them and eats everything herself. Plus she mentally hounds the tenants for new conversation but only her approved subjects...

Isabelle is an orphan, raised by an older woman in town, and who is now quite ill, and living at the boarding house with her.

There doesn't seem to be any hope at all. Then this strange sea animal shows up at the beach and spits an apple at her. Nobody in that town has seen an apple in years, and she tries to hide it so she can share it with her "Grandmother" and give her a treat. No such luck there, though. But when the mean land lady tries to eat her apple, it explodes!

From there the story gets even more interesting. It's wild fantasy at its best, has enough gross things in the story to keep the juvenile readers going, and you find yourself rooting for Isabel and hoping life will get better for her.

To find out, pick yourself a copy of this book - it would be a fun one to read aloud with the family in the evening, too.