A Secret Shared

by Patricia MacLachlan

Overview

Newbery Medal–winning author Patricia MacLachlan paints a moving portrait of what it means to be a family, the power of love, and the importance of bringing the truth out into the light, in this beautiful and profound story about adoption, now available in paperback.

Nora and Ben’s younger sister Birdy loves to keep secrets. She surprises her family more than once: She hides a kitten in her room. She writes a beautiful poem. One day Birdy watches her mother spit into a tube, ready to send it off to find out more about herself and where her family came from. Birdy spits into a tube, too, when no one sees her.

But when the test results come back, they are a surprise. Birdy is seemingly not related to Nora and Ben’s parents. But if she is adopted, how could that have happened without the children knowing?

Nora and Ben must learn when to keep a secret, and who to go to for help—and eventually, how to solve this secret for the entire family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062885883
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Patricia MacLachlan (1938-2022) was the celebrated author of many timeless books for young readers, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal. She was also the author of many beloved picture books, a number of which she cowrote with her daughter, Emily.

Editorial Reviews

"MacLachlan’s signature short, careful sentences imbue each phrase with significance, creating a lyrical ambiance that draws readers into the close family circle. Especially moving is the depiction of the parents’ love for each other as well as their children as they move forward into their newly shared truth." — Publishers Weekly

"With simple, repetitive language, much of it offered as dialogue, MacLachlan's latest is perfect for readers just transitioning into chapter books with slightly more narrative depth. Familial concern about honesty gives the twins' questions weight, and a resolution about adoption that ties up happily works well for the target audience. A sweet look at what really makes for a family." — Booklist

"MacLachlan examines the question 'What makes a family?' in her latest middle grade book. MacLachlan's lyrical writing emphasizes that love is what makes a family. This short novel is immersed in love—between friends, within a married couple, between siblings, parents and their children, and even in the devotion for a favorite teacher . . . VERDICT With a warm message and gorgeous prose, this story grounded in fact and love . . . " — School Library Journal

Praise for WONDROUS REX: "MacLachlan spins from simple words an enigmatic, gentle . . . tale. Sweetly magical."
— Kirkus Reviews

"A charmed (and charming) dog, a language-loving girl, and an innate aunt-niece bond are among the alluring threads that MacLachlan (Dream Within a Dream) deftly weaves into this taut novel. MacLachlan again proves her gift for shaping endearing and credible characters—even a magical canine—in this bright yet reflective story." — Publishers Weekly

"Newbery-winner MacLachlan's spare but elegant prose touches on themes of self-confidence, the writer's craft, and the sense of well-being that can come from pet ownership. This book will please younger readers and inspire would-be wordsmiths." — Booklist

Praise for MY FATHER'S WORDS: “MacLachlan is the master of quiet books that pack an emotional wallop. My Father’s Words finds the author in her element. MacLachlan provides a beautifully nuanced portrait of one family’s recovery after tragedy. This book feels as direct and true as a dog looking you straight in the eyes.” — New York Times Book Review

“Newbery Medalist MacLachlan is known for writing heart-tugging stories in spare style, as she did in Sarah, Plain and Tall. And that’s what she does here as readers meet Fiona and Finn. Deeply moving and uplifting in unexpected ways.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Key relationships in her own life inspired this characteristically taut and resonant novel by Newbery Medalist MacLachlan. MacLachlan masterfully mingles core themes in this slim volume: the power of words and song, memories and family, the mutually redemptive human-canine bond, and ‘the eternal fitness of things.’” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“With her customary precise, spare language, infused with emotional intelligence, MacLachlan takes readers from shocked grief to a way to live again, fundamental truths dropped carefully and delicately for young readers to comprehend in their own time. A flawless story about resilience, hope, healing, and the eternal fitness of things.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Praise for THE POET'S DOG: “Magical. A quiet, elegant, poignant story suffused with humor, heart, and goodness.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A spare, moving tale. Using simple words that even youngest readers will understand and enjoy, MacLachlan tackles subjects such as death and mourning with understated grace.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Readers will find their own jewel in this gem of a book." — Booklist (starred review)

Praise for WORD AFTER WORD AFTER WORD: “Showing great respect for her readers and her craft, Newbery Award winner Patricia MacLachlan makes every word count in Lucy’s smooth-flowing, economic narrative.” — Booklist (starred review)

“MacLachlan delivers a strong, spare novel about the power of writing to transform.” — Publishers Weekly

“MacLachlan creates marvelous characters, children who can empathize with and support one another and who produce amazing poetry that captures their sadness and courage. The result is a tale that draws readers into a dichotomous world that is serious and lighthearted, sad and happy, real and unreal.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Praise for MY FATHER'S WORDS: “MacLachlan is the master of quiet books that pack an emotional wallop. My Father’s Words finds the author in her element. MacLachlan provides a beautifully nuanced portrait of one family’s recovery after tragedy. This book feels as direct and true as a dog looking you straight in the eyes.

New York Times Book Review

Newbery Medalist MacLachlan is known for writing heart-tugging stories in spare style, as she did in Sarah, Plain and Tall. And that’s what she does here as readers meet Fiona and Finn. Deeply moving and uplifting in unexpected ways.

Booklist (starred review)

"With simple, repetitive language, much of it offered as dialogue, MacLachlan's latest is perfect for readers just transitioning into chapter books with slightly more narrative depth. Familial concern about honesty gives the twins' questions weight, and a resolution about adoption that ties up happily works well for the target audience. A sweet look at what really makes for a family."

Booklist

"With simple, repetitive language, much of it offered as dialogue, MacLachlan's latest is perfect for readers just transitioning into chapter books with slightly more narrative depth. Familial concern about honesty gives the twins' questions weight, and a resolution about adoption that ties up happily works well for the target audience. A sweet look at what really makes for a family."

Booklist

2021-07-14
Twins Nora and Ben uncover a family secret: Their little sister, Birdy, was adopted.

The White family’s ancestry is European: Mother, a newspaper columnist, is Irish; Father, an art professor, is Italian. When Mother administers a home DNA test for her column about ancestry, Birdy copies her, preparing a test for herself using the kit Father rejects. When the results come back, the twins realize Birdy substituted her sample for Mother’s and that Birdy’s ancestry is Swedish. Confused, the twins confide in a former teacher who asks them if it matters. They decide it doesn’t but continue to probe the mystery; meanwhile, Mother makes weekly trips to place flowers on her best friend’s grave. The tale unfolds gently, with MacLachlan’s signature grace and luminous simplicity, but the complex subject—poised where nature and nurture intersect—both calls for and deserves more nuanced treatment than plot or format allow. Even though Birdy’s atypical adoption sidesteps difficult issues, young readers may wonder why Birdy’s birth mother made her choice and why her birth father’s unknown. Overall, the story has a comfortably old-fashioned sensibility, but the depiction of adoption, understandably simplified, is also outdated, conflating problematic adoption secrecy with secrets trivial and benign. Beyond outing family secrets, DNA testing has given parentage and ancestry renewed prominence in how we identify ourselves. The message that, in a loving family, being adopted “doesn’t matter,” while well-intentioned, is misleading.

A rare misstep from a first-rate author. (Fiction. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews