The Year of the Baby: Anna Wang, Book 2
By Sally Engelfried,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Sweet tale of adopted sibling and her loving older sister.
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What you will—and won't—find in this book.
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What's the Story?
THE YEAR OF THE BABY picks up the story of Anna some months after the events of the first Anna book, The Year of the Book. Anna's family has adopted a baby girl from China, and Anna's mother is worried because the 15-month-old is not gaining enough weight and refuses to eat much. Anna is much more settled and confident now, with two close friends and no significant conflicts at school. She has a special bond with her sister and wants to help her mother solve the no-eating problem. When her teacher assigns the class a science project, Anna comes up with an experiment that satisfies both her need to be creative and her desire to help her mother.
Is It Any Good?
Like The Year of the Book, The Year of the Baby is a sweet and honest look at a young girl's everyday worries about family, friends, and school. Anna's perceptive, nonjudgmental way of looking at the people around her gives supporting characters a depth unusual for such a short book. In addition, Anna and her friends' confidence in their ability to work together to solve the problem of baby Kaylee's failure to thrive is refreshing and believable. As in the first book in the series, pen and ink drawings break up the text, making this title a good choice for those new to chapter books.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about books that include a school setting. Why do you think the author chose Anna's science project as a main plot point in the story?
This is the second book about Anna, and there's a third coming out in 2014, but each book can stand alone. How does this compare with series in which each book is dependent on the reader having read the previous books? Which kind of series do you prefer?
Anna's science project ended up having results in the real world, not just school. Has your school work ever helped you solve a problem at home?
Book Details
- Author: Andrea Cheng
- Illustrator: Patrice Barton
- Genre: Family Life
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters, Friendship
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Children's Books
- Publication date: May 28, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 6 - 9
- Number of pages: 176
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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