Somebody's Girl

Gr 3—6—Martha is an exasperating yet sympathetic nine-year-old whose life is thrown into a tailspin when her adoptive parents announce that they are having a baby. She is bereft, furious, and maddeningly self-centered. She misses her perfectly groomed mother, who doled out homemade afterschool snacks and always chaperoned her dinners with her birth mother. Martha shrinks from Linda's smoky breath and her desperate hugs, but is hurt when she announces that she is getting married, moving away, and anticipates bringing up a baby with her fiancé. She has alienated her friends, and is scornful of Chance, a foster boy. She suspects that their teacher put them on a project together because they don't live with their birth parents. Being adopted and being a mere foster child are vastly different in her view, and she is impatient that her teacher does not understand that. Martha is enthralled by the natural world, though, and fish, and Chance shares her obsession, so their joint project earns rave reviews. De Vries does not play down how prickly Martha is, yet when the child acknowledges her selfish behavior and welcomes the new baby, she demonstrates that maturing is hard work. The story is beautifully written, and Martha and Chance are particularly authentic and robust, though even minor characters are deftly drawn. Although the book has a strong appeal to those interested in fiction about open adoptions, it deserves a wide audience because it is so well told.—Deborah Vose, East Middle School and South Middle School, Braintree, MA