From Publishers Weekly With her sister Kari expecting a baby, 12-year-old Bitte looks forward to being a loving aunt?until Kari reveals her own plans for herself and her child. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) pCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal Grade 5-8?Looking back to the summer she was 12, Bitte, the third child of a close-knit Norwegian-American family, relates a brief tale replete with complex familial emotions. Her sister Kari, who is 15 and pregnant, bravely decides with her parents' support to allow a kind, childless couple to adopt her baby. Bitte protests Kari's decision, feeling robbed of the chance to be a nurturing aunt. To ease household tension, their mother sends Bitte away for the last month of the pregnancy to stay with her Uncle Axel, whose beloved wife has been placed in a nursing home. It is the summer, too, when Bitte yearns to know the true nature of love; when she physically becomes a woman; and when, in witnessing her family's gentle strength in the face of change and loss, she gains insight into the meaning of happiness. Repeatedly addressing the child by an imaginary name, "Isabella," Bitte reveals in the book's epilogue that her narrative is a 12th birthday gift to her long-separated niece. Frankly, it seems improbable that after so many years have passed, Bitte feels the need to inform the adopted child, whom readers meet only in infancy, of her loving origins. Christiansen's portrayal of family warmth is occasionally marred by sentimentality, especially in Bitte's depiction of the young adoptive couple, and the tone seems overly nostalgic for its intended audience. At its best, this extended love letter celebrates human connections.?Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VTCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
