Count Me In - Hardcover

Grade 5-8 After her mother remarries, 15-year-old Katie feels like a guest in her own home. Then when her mother and stepfather announce they are going to have a baby, she feels even more resentful and left out. She thinks of living in the city with her photographer father, but after visiting him she realizes that although he loves her, his career does not permit a live-in daughter. Katie wonders where she belongs. With the egocentricity of a child, she ignores the difficulties of the adults in her life and sees only her own unhappiness. Fortunately, by the end of the book, Katie has gained some insight and maturity with the help of her father's girlfriend and her own good sense. Adult characters are well-developed, concerned people who care. Because of these three-dimensional adult characters, the story rises above a typical stepfamily story with a predictable ending. Donna S. Rodda, Solon City Schools, Ohio
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A sensitive, satisfying story of a young girl's struggle to accept change within her family and herself the summer after her eighth-grade graduation. Katie has been feeling closed-out after her mother's remarriage to Steve. Then the two announce that they're having a baby, and Steve goes around the house singing, "And baby makes three." Katie's best friend only talks about boys. Katie fantasizes that she could move in with her father, but then discovers he has a girlfriend. By the time Katie joins her grandmother for her annual vacation at the beach, she's sure she's been pushed out by everyone. Her grandmother's a good listener, though, and Katie meets a boy, and by the time the baby comes, she's decided that a family is what you make of it. McDonnell handles a familiar subject well, with characters real enough to make the point.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.