Separated as young children after their parents died in a car crash, sisters Molly and Beth are re-united after eight years, but Beth frightens Molly with her obsessive memories of their brief shared past. By the author of Circles.
I'd kind of like to reread this at some point... it was read to my fifth grade class by my teacher and has really stuck in my memory for some bizarre reason.
Interesting little book on adoption following the tragic death of both parents. The two daughters were separated and adopted by families of very different means - one fairly wealthy and the other on the verge of broke. The effects on the daughters, particularly the older one, are quite dramatic. Definitely geared toward middle school age group, and a story worth reading, especially if the child has been touched in some way by adoption.
This is a book from my childhood. I reread it and wow, it's harsh! What did I think of it when I read it the first time? I don't remember. Oh, and the cover here is much better in a way. The cover I have has two girls on it as well, but the one that is actually younger looks like she is older than the other.
Molly and Beth's parents died in a car crash. Molly went to live with her aunt and uncle while Beth went to live with the nurse that cared for her after the accident. When the girls are reunited 8 years later Molly is surprised to find that her older sister is mean. What made her so angry and was it justified?
Well, it's a kids book but the title caught me and I thought "Oooh, this'll be suspenseful!" Not terribly. Pretty mild throughout. Maybe cos it's a kids book:)
it was okay, it was really short. it did have a good story line and cliff hangers, but it would have been better if it had more details and a longer story.
Well, this was...something, I guess. I kept seeing this at the library where I work, so I finally decided to pick this up. I didn't really know what to except, but the description on the back intrigued me. It ended up being fine but I think I just wanted more from it. And yes, I understand that this is a book meant for kids, but it just kind of ended abruptly and didn't delve into deep topics enough for me.
This is about two sisters, Molly and Beth, who's parents died in a car accident roughly 8 years ago. The two girls were then adopted by two different families. Molly ended up with her aunt and uncle, while Beth ended up with a wealthy family. Now Beth is coming to visit Molly, who is now 11 years old. Beth is maybe fifteen or so....this is unclear to me because the timeline is never fully explained. But anyway, Beth is terrible to put it mildly. She acts like she is better than her aunt, uncle and sister for some strange reason that isn't fully explained until the end of the book.....but Beth's reason for being so upset and/or angry makes some sense, but keep in mind that Beth was injured in the accident (while Molly wasn't) and also five years old so her memories may be a little warped. I guess this isn't a spoiler because this book is around the same age as me, but Beth was mad that her aunt and uncle didn't take her in as well, feeling as though because she was injured they didn't want her. This was in fact not true because the aunt and uncle were having some marriage problems and felt that the burden of an injured child was too much for them at the time. Molly, being the younger one, didn't recall anything so was less scared, I guess. But honestly, this should've been cleared up a while ago.
First of all, the people in this book acted so bizarrely. Molly's aunt/mom literally freaks (kind of understandably) out as soon as she finds out that Beth and the Lattimore's (the adoptive parents) are coming, she has some strange ideas about how rich people are. For example, she says something to her husband: "People like Mrs. Lattimore always seem to like strawberries." What does this mean? Do only rich people like strawberries? It was statements like this that made me wonder where these odd ideas about wealthier people came from. Aunt Karen (the aunt/mom) seems to have a "keep up with the rich Lattimore family," attitude. It's hard to explain, it just came off as odd to me.
Anyway, this book came off as a very 90s kids book, and it's very dated in my opinion. It was also kind of billed as mysterious and it wasn't, it was just strange and kind of sad.
Marilyn Sachs has written numerous books, mostly middle school level, that deal with family dynamics. This interesting and sensitively written book concerns the strained relationship between a young girl and her sister, meeting for the first time after surviving a car accident as small children, in which both parents were killed.
Beth, aged five at the time, was adopted by an affluent couple and went to live across the country; Molly, just 3, had gone to live with a financially struggling aunt and uncle. From the beginning of their meeting eight years later, Beth seems to have a chip on her shoulder, and Molly struggles to understand why.
Like many of Marilyn Sach's books, this is the kind of story that the reader continues to think about long after finishing it.
Would you rather be adopted by a wealthy acquaintance, or a middle-income relative?
After their parents died in a car accident, Molly is adopted by her aunt, and her sister Beth is adopted by a nurse. The sisters are separated and don't see each other for years, until Beth and her mother unexpectedly visit Molly and her adopted family. Beth behaves oddly, and family secrets are finally revealed.
Sachs has a way of bringing the story to life with interesting and quirky but realistic characters, the intricacies of family dynamics, and the unforeseen consequences of difficult decisions. We build our realities based on our own perceptions of events, and seeing an event from another person's perspective is quite illuminating.
There is just something about this book, the characters aren’t particularly likeable, the plot is thin, and it’s not the most compelling story. But I read it every couple of years and each time I just feel like I am sucked right into the drama dysfunction, like a fly on the wall.
I came upon this title in the "Solved" books message board & thought that it would be an interesting read. I read it on Amazon Kindle in 2 days. The setting took place mostly in Molly's house. I think all of it happened in only 2 days because they ate dinner twice and then Beth left. When Beth first arrived right away she was mean to Molly, she takes Molly by surprise because this isn't the sister she imagined nor the meeting that she imagined. Bethsays mean things & remembers something that happened to her along time ago. This book actually brought back memories of my old Step sister, when I was 8 I had a Step sister that was just down right mean to me. The moment she met me she was just angry, she fought me whenever she came over on the weekends. No matter how nice I was to her she just spit venom back at me. After 5 years I was glad when my Mom divorced my Stepdad it was such a relief to be away from my Step sister & her mean ways. They moved to another state and I never heard from her or my Stepdad again. So I can kind of relate to how hurt Molly felt when Beth treated her mean constantly.