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Fifth-grader Anna is concerned that her baby sister Kaylee, adopted from China three months ago, is not thriving so she and her best friends, Laura and Camille, create a science project that may save the day.Tags
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The Year of the Baby by Andrea Chang, illustrated by Patricia Barton. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. 162 pp. 978-0-547-91067-3. Middle and upper elementary.
Fourth grade Anna’s life is busy: she is happy with school and her upcoming science project, and she loves her newly adopted baby sister Kaylee. But, everyone in her family is concerned when Kaylee stops gaining weight and doesn’t want to eat. Anna teams up with her friends to create a science project to help Kaylee eat and thrive. This short chapter book is a surprisingly nuanced: Anna’s mother is from China, and Kaylee herself is very aware of the perceptions that go with being, as she calls herself, ABC- American Born Chinese. Particularly effective is the way that show more Chang highlights the assumptions that even friends can make based on race and ethnicity. She also does an excellent job presenting the issue of Kaylee’s adoption from China, with both the happiness of Anna and her family in having a baby sister and their remaining questions about her birth family, and Kaylee’s physical transition to the United States. Elementary school friendships and the suggestion of cliques is touched on briefly. However, Chang’s approach to these issues is not heavy-handed and a wide variety of readers would enjoy this book, particularly if they, like Anna, would be thrilled to find themselves in the main characters. Highly recommended. show less
Fourth grade Anna’s life is busy: she is happy with school and her upcoming science project, and she loves her newly adopted baby sister Kaylee. But, everyone in her family is concerned when Kaylee stops gaining weight and doesn’t want to eat. Anna teams up with her friends to create a science project to help Kaylee eat and thrive. This short chapter book is a surprisingly nuanced: Anna’s mother is from China, and Kaylee herself is very aware of the perceptions that go with being, as she calls herself, ABC- American Born Chinese. Particularly effective is the way that show more Chang highlights the assumptions that even friends can make based on race and ethnicity. She also does an excellent job presenting the issue of Kaylee’s adoption from China, with both the happiness of Anna and her family in having a baby sister and their remaining questions about her birth family, and Kaylee’s physical transition to the United States. Elementary school friendships and the suggestion of cliques is touched on briefly. However, Chang’s approach to these issues is not heavy-handed and a wide variety of readers would enjoy this book, particularly if they, like Anna, would be thrilled to find themselves in the main characters. Highly recommended. show less
One of those quiet stories that ends up being nicely fulfilling and well-rounded. I appreciate how Anna found a way to solve her baby sister's weight problem. What a great way to incorporate STEM into the story! :)
A sweet story of a family dealing with a failing-to-thrive adopted baby girl from China. Anna, a fifth-grader, and two of her friends decide to try to help the baby eat as part of their science project.
Discussing with my 3rd, 4th, and 5th girl summer book club.
Highly recommended.
Discussing with my 3rd, 4th, and 5th girl summer book club.
Highly recommended.
I love sibling bonds and to see that Anna truly loved her adopted sister. The relationships she had are one's that all children should have. This was probably my favorite one of the series.
such an adorable series! I love everything about it!
[3.75 stars ⭐️.]
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Sonlight Books
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Children's Books About Babies & Toddlers
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Author Information
25 Works 2,731 Members
Andrea Cheng was born on September 19, 1957. After receiving a BA in English from Cornell University, she went to Switzerland, where she apprenticed to a bookbinder, attended a school of bookbinding called The Centro del Bel Libro, and learned French. Upon her return, she received an MS in linguistics from Cornell University. She taught English as show more a Second Language and children's literature at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. She was a children's author and illustrator. Her books included Grandfather Counts, Marika, The Key Collection, Honeysuckle House, Where the Steps Were, The Bear Makers, Brushing Mom's Hair, and the Year of... chapter book series. She died after a long illness on December 26, 2015 at the age of 58. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Year of the Baby
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Statistics
- Members
- 244
- Popularity
- 132,529
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.68)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
