School Library Journal Reviews Real Sisters Pretend!

PreS-Gr 2—In her author's note, Lambert describes how closely this story parallels the experience of her own adopted daughters. She was inspired to write it after overhearing how baffled they were by a stranger asking if they were "real sisters." Tadgell's lively watercolors depict Tayja, an African American girl of about seven, and Mia, a white preschooler with curly dark hair, who laugh at the absurdity of such a question. As they play, they imagine themselves as hiking princesses climbing up and down mountains, but when Mia says, "Let's pretend we are sisters," Tayja says, "No, Mia, we don't have to pretend that. We are sisters. Real sisters." Mia happily recalls how Tayja welcomed her to the family and shared her stuffed lion. They both relive how the judge let them bang his gavel when Mia's adoption was finalized, and concluded that they understood about adoption. Their happy faces and whimsical game of make-believe will engage young readers, and children who live in families touched by adoption will likely find the underlying message positive and affirming. Revealed in the last few pages is yet another way this family could be considered different—there are two mothers. Momma's reaction to the woman in the grocery store who asks if they are "real" sisters is a simple, direct statement: "Of course they are!" The girls are secure in their knowledge that they are part of a real, loving family with both Momma and Mommy. VERDICT This is an appealing story, recommended for general purchase, especially where Patricia Polacco's In Our Mother's House and Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's And Tango Makes Three are popular.—Deborah Vose, Highlands Elementary School, Braintree, MA

Barnes & Noble Bookfair!

I'll be at the Barnes & Noble Saturday June 18th for a Bookfair & Fundraiser!

• Saturday, June 18 from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Author/Illustrator Book Signings
AC Gaughen, Stacy DeKeyser, Karen Day, Donna Mae, MarcyKate Connolly,
Sharron Kahn Luttrell, Kim Harrington and Anna Staniszewski

• Saturday, June 18 from 12-1 p.m. Story Time/Craft with Picture Book author
Donna Mae, author of The Wooly Adventures of Purl and Marshmallows Galore

• Saturday, June 18 from 1 p.m.–3 p.m. Author/Illustrator Book Signings
Josh Funk, Melissa Stewart, Jane Kohuth, Nicole Tadgell, Heather Lang, Frank
Dormer, Jean Taft and Susan Lynn Meyer