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. ( )

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! :) ( )

such an adorable series! I love everything about it! ( )

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. ( )

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 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. ( )