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No-Name Baby

Nancy Bo Flood

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Feb 25, 2012 Barbara rated it really liked it

Shelves: bullies, cultural-identity, war

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Mar 31, 2012 Carol Saller rated it it was amazing

No Name Baby is my favorite kind of book, in that it presents us with a realistic teenager, throws some pretty awful situations at her, shows us her worst, and makes us love her and ache for her in spite of her flaws.

Nancy Bo Flood knows how to blend the historical and the personal very effectively. In Warriors in the Crossfire, we’re right there in the fighting at times; in No Name Baby, even though we’re in rural Illinois, far from an actual war, we see the devastating effect World War I had ...more

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May 11, 2012 Sheila Welch rated it it was amazing

No-Name Baby

With its intriguing title and somber but lovely cover, I knew this was going to be an unusual story. The spare and poetic language drew me in, starting with the first page, and the hint of a family secret kept me reading.

Sophie, almost fourteen, leads an isolated life on a farm during the 1930s. She knows she's fortunate to have a loving family, including a live-in grandmother, and is aware of the losses her parents have had when other children – babies - have been born too early a No-Name Baby

With its intriguing title and somber but lovely cover, I knew this was going to be an unusual story. The spare and poetic language drew me in, starting with the first page, and the hint of a family secret kept me reading.

Sophie, almost fourteen, leads an isolated life on a farm during the 1930s. She knows she's fortunate to have a loving family, including a live-in grandmother, and is aware of the losses her parents have had when other children – babies - have been born too early and haven't lived. Their tiny tombstones are lined up in the orchard where Sophie likes to go and talk with the slightly older neighbor boy who's helping her father with the farm work.

Although Sophie is worried about her mother who is pregnant again, she has other concerns too. Why is Mama's older sister, Aunt Rae, who has come from Chicago to help, always so distant and difficult? She seems remarkably different from Mama and Nonna, Sophie's warm and competent grandmother.

Putting aside her worries on a cold, early spring morning, Sophie asks her mother to exchange chores. This seems such a simple thing, and only a little bit selfish, a little childish, but while feeding the pigs, Mama falls and goes into premature labor. Suddenly, Sophie is thrown into the adult world of guilt and pain. Told with an atmospheric sense of foreboding, the chapters dealing with the birth of her baby brother made me feel as though I were right there in the kitchen with Sophie, anxiously listening for the baby's first cry and wondering if he'd live.

Even though this novel is short and a quick read, many complex issues of that time period are addressed, making it an excellent choice for history students. Anyone who appreciates well written, family-centered stories will enjoy NO-NAME BABY. All the realistic characters are well drawn and memorable. Nonna in particular stands out. She's both bossy and sweet, and full of her Italian memories, including the hopeful songs intended to keep a baby alive and to help a young girl handle a long kept family secret.
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Sep 04, 2012 Mary Louise Sanchez marked it as to-read

Nov 30, 2012 Christi marked it as to-read

Shelves: young-adult, 2013-possible-newberries

Dec 18, 2014 Amy marked it as to-read

Shelves: boys-5-6-nancie-atwell

Apr 19, 2015 Amy added it · review of another edition

Shelves: bank-street-awards

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